On 10th January 2021, a memorial service was held at the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan in Kabul by the survivors of the Yakawlang massacre, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of this painful tragedy. In addition to screening a documentary film produced by (SAAJS), Weeda Ahmad, Director of the SAAJS, delivered a speech, the transcription of which is published here:

Exactly twenty years ago, on the 10th January, the brutal Taliban massacred almost 300 innocent men in Yakawlang. This is one of the most blood-soaked days in the recent history of our country that will never be forgotten nor forgiven

The crimes of the Taliban during their reign are not limited to the massacre of Yakawlang youth and teenagers. They committed the same bloodshed in Balkh Province, burning the lands and houses of the northern people; prevented women and girls from working and going to schools; arbitrary courts cut off the hands and feet of detainees; Kabul Sports Stadium was turned into a slaughterhouse; Afghan men and women have not forgotten the pain and abuse of the Taliban whipping them because of not having veil or a long beard….

Nearly twenty years after 9/11 and the fall of the Taliban's savage government and the installation of the Karzai's puppet regime, the terrorist Taliban have become stronger day by day due to the military and financial support of Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, US, Israel and others.

The blood of thousands of children, men and women of this land has been shed on the ground under various pretexts and very easily. Our people rightly say that in Afghanistan today, where the shadow of death is circling everywhere, if we survive, it is by accident.

Nevertheless, I wish insecurity was the only pain of our poor people. Poverty, unemployment, homelessness, suicide, bombings, targeted assassinations, corruption, drugs and dozens of other tragedies are choking the throats of thousands of our compatriots.

Among other issues, this year Covid-19 also affected our people. Even such a dangerous disease to humanity has become a business for criminals in the corrupt government and they have pocketed big money. For many years, Afghanistan has been at the top of the list of corrupt countries in the world, and if people expose or try to prevent it, they will be suppressed in some forms.

Karzai’s and Ghani-Abdullah’s government have deepened the misery of our people and it is clear that a dependent government that relies mainly on foreigners and the support of warlords, by no means would cure the suffering of its people. That is why, for the sake of its own interests, the government, which received millions of dollars from the international community and sold the homeland under the name of the so-called Security Treaty, agrees to any compromise: to even pass the amnesty law to free 5,000 Taliban terrorists.

That is why we see on the one hand the Taliban with their brothers of Daesh killing our innocent compatriots every day in Kabul and the provinces, and on the other hand the corrupt Ghani government with the complicity of the United States instead of bringing these criminals to justice, accept a shameful deal in the name of peace. In fact, the blood of our loved ones is disregarded

The blood and lives of our homeland young has no value for each member of the current negotiating team who are earning high salaries and lots of privileges. If the Taliban join the government, under any name, title or structure, terrorists and looters gain more score and all crime against Afghanistan will continue.

To conclude, establishing security and prosperity in a country is not unlikely, but it certainly requires sacrifice. But justice should never be sacrificed for peace at any cost. The only way to true and perpetual peace is to prosecute the criminal leaders of the last four decades and to establish justice, and this can only be achieved through the organization and mobilization of the different ethnicities and groups/portions of Afghanistan, especially the survivors and families of the victims.

With the hope of a day when we have independence, security and prosperity in our homeland!