Dasht-i-Leili Massacre

The Dasht-i-Leili massacre occurred in December 2001 during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan where between 250 and 3,000 (depending on sources) Taliban prisoners were shot and/or suffocated to death in metal truck containers, while being transferred by U.S. and Junbish-i Milli soldiers from Kunduz to Sheberghan prison in Afghanistan. The site of the graves is believed to be in the Dasht-i-Leili desert just west of Sheberghan, in the Jowzjan Province.

The transferred prisoners were under supervision of forces loyal to General Rashid Dostum and some of them were survivors of the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi in Mazar-i-Sharif. In 2009 Dostum denied the accusations. According to all sources, many of the prisoners died from suffocation inside the containers and some witnesses claim that those who survived were raked with gunfire. The dead were buried in a mass grave under the authority of Commander Kamal. Those who participated in the burial included Commander Taher Charkhi, who voices no regret for their deaths. "Thousands should have died, not hundreds," he has said.

The allegations have been investigated since 2002 by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). PHR conducted two forensic missions to the site under the auspices of the UN in 2002.

In 2008, PHR, working with the UN, documented that the grave had been tampered with.