Mass Slaughter Of the Taliban's Foreign Jihadists

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Atta is keeping his prisoners locked in a former cotton warehouse on the southwestern outskirts of Mazar. There, the Pakistanis tell a uniform tale of deception. Mullahs in Pakistan told them Americans were fighting against brother Muslims in Afghanistan and that it was their duty to join the jihad. "The mullahs cheated us," says Saeed Hanif Mohammed, 60, a member of the fundamentalist Pakistani militia Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. "A lot of people died, but we couldn't care about them--we had to save ourselves." He pauses. "I just want to go home." The Northern Alliance guards say barefoot Mohammed Haji Meer, 55, was one of the Pakistani commanders. "All these people are Muslims," he says, gesturing at his jailers. "Of course we regret coming here. The Taliban just left us--the people who wanted to fight thought they would be coming back."

The prisoners take pains not to criticize their captors, who give them food, water and medicine--and have the power to execute them. "We don't want to kill them," says Atta. "But maybe some of them who killed people--we will have to kill them."