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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Australia China India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam Afghan violence victims want voice in peace talks By JAMEY KEATEN,Associated Press Writer - 2 hours 33 minutes ago Send IM Story Print KABUL – Ahmad Shah knows more than most Afghans about the nation's 30 years of bloodshed, repression and war: He lost his hands in a mine blast. His father died in an anti-government uprising. His brother was shot 30 times and killed by a rival. And Taliban thugs once beat him up even though he had no hands to punch back. Shah, 46, was among scores of Afghans who spoke of their suffering at the hands of the Taliban and Soviet regimes at a "victim's jirga" Sunday _ a gathering billed as one of the first of its kind for victims to voice their concerns about the possibility of making peace with those who have perpetrated the violence throughout the years. Legal advocates who organized Sunday's conference are hoping the stories will put pressure on President Hamid Karzai, who is hosting a national peace assembly next month to seek a consensus on how to reconcile with insurgents and help end the war. Karzai has said that he would accept back into the fold with any insurgent who renounces violence, severs ties with terrorist groups like al-Qaida and respects the Afghan constitution. He has said he would even talk to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar if it would help end the more than 8-year-old war. Such prospects will be on the agenda when Karzai meets with officials in Washington on Monday. About 1,500 people from across Afghan society have been invited to attend the assembly to seek a consensus on a reconciliation plan. Some victims believe those responsible for the violence should be brought to justice, and want to deprive them of any chance of regaining positions of power. The legal advocates hope to build public pressure for those goals. But ultimately political leaders like Karzai will have final say on any reconciliation. "We cannot lose hope for a peaceful life," said Sima Hussiani, a woman from Badakhshan province in northern Afghanistan. The former Taliban regime _ which ruled the country from 1995 until a U.S.-led invasion in 2001 _ killed her two brothers, both teachers, in the late 1990s. "I don't want blood for blood, but the perpetrators should acknowledge their mistakes," she said. Some in the crowd, whose trips to the capital were paid by advocacy groups, dabbed their eyes while hearing accounts of atrocities that their fellow Afghans endured. Others broke down in tears while telling their own stories. Shah, who today manages programs at a Kabul center for the disabled, embodies much of Afghanistan's turbulent past. He lost parts of both arms in a mine blast in eastern Afghanistan in 1987 during the war between the Soviets and mujahedeen fighters. But he said the pain from that injury paled next to the agony he felt over the death of his father, at a 1980 anti-government uprising in western Herat province, and the death of his brother, who was shot 30 times in a settling-of-scores, four years later. Shah said he was beaten up by a Taliban group _ despite the fact that he was unable to punch back _ in 1993. Still, he says even the biggest perpetrators of violence could be forgiven _ if only they apologize. "These 'big shots' can do two things: with the millions of dollars they have, they can start giving away their wealth to the people, the victims," Shah said in Dari through a translator. "Second ... they should come down to their knees, and say 'sorry' and ask for forgiveness _ publicly." One 51-year-old mother of six from Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, who gave her name as Qudsia, said unknown men stormed into her family's home one night in 1998 and grabbed her husband. The next day, they returned his dead body. She still doesn't know who was responsible and spoke of years battling depression. Yet, Qudsia said that if the Taliban repent and vow not to repeat the same atrocities, she might be able to forgive them. "It's not just about me. It's about everyone in Afghanistan," she said. "I will go with the tide." But others were less willing to forgive. A woman named Sharifa, 37, from the northern Takhar province, said that shrapnel from a bomb that landed in her backyard in 1999 killed her 13-year-old son, Fazel Ahmad. "We will not forgive those who committed these atrocities," she said. "We want justice to be served." Some 1.5 million people have died and millions injured or displaced in the turmoil that has wracked Afghanistan since 1978 _ but the voices of the victims have been overlooked for too long, conference organizers said. The Taliban, who have waged an insurgency against the Afghan government since their ouster, drew the scorn of many of the victims. But organizers noted that regional warlords, Soviet and Communist-era fighters, state security forces and NATO troops have also killed or wounded many innocents too. According to an Associated Press tally based on official figures, insurgents were responsible for the deaths of 306 civilians through April 30 this year, while Afghan and international forces were responsible for 99 deaths in that span. The violence continued over the weekend. Four members of a community defense force protecting villagers in western Afghanistan were beheaded by militants in fighting on Saturday, and Afghan and international forces responded, killing 10 militants, said Maj. Zainudin Sharifi, the commander of the Afghan National Army's rapid-response team in Herat. Three Afghan soldiers were killed Saturday in Herat's Sangin district, the Defense Ministry said. NATO reported a service member died Sunday in southern Afghanistan. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was visiting Afghanistan with a Congressional delegation, said Sunday that security will be a main issue on Karzai's U.S. visit. 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