On 5 August 2010, ten members of International Assistance Mission (IAM) Nuristan Eye Camp team were killed in Kuran wa Munjan District of Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan. The team was attacked as it was returning from Nuristan to Kabul. One team member was spared while the rest of the team were killed immediately. Those killed were six Americans, two Afghans, one Briton and one German.
The identity of the attackers is unknown. When news of the killings broke, both Hizb-e Islami and the Taliban initially claimed responsibility for the attack, accusing the doctors of proselytism and spying. These claims were later refuted by Taliban leaders in Nuristan and Badakhshan, who stated that they had confirmed the dead were bona-fide aid workers, condemned the killings as murder, and offered their condolences to the families of those killed.The Afghanistan Analysts Network:
The attack was the deadliest strike against foreign aid workers in the Afghanistan war. The killings underscored the suspicion Christian-affiliated groups face from some Afghans and government opponents and the wider risks faced by aid workers in the country.
Background and context Badakhshan province borders Tajikistan and is inhabited by mostly Tajik people. It is one of the few provinces in Afghanistan which was not controlled by the Taliban when it was in power. After coming under increasing pressure by NATO forces in southern Afghanistan the Taliban have become active in areas like Badakhshan Province which were previously calm. In addition they have started using women and children as suicide bombers and targeted tribal elders, things they formerly considered taboo. Foreign aid workers have been attacked in the past but these attacks have been relatively infrequent and Taliban has allowed some aid workers in the areas they controlled. Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission stated that civilian deaths were up five percent in 2010 and Taliban was responsible for 68% of the 1325 deaths till 8 August 2010 and NATO was responsible for 28%. IAM is a Christian organization that has worked in Afghanistan since 1966. They have denied proselytizing, as for non-Muslims it is against the law of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. According to critics propagandists of the Taliban insurgency portray their drive for power as a defense of Islam. The victims of the massacre had indeed been sponsored by a Christian charity, but that organization worked in Afghanistan since 1966, under a monarchy, a communist regime, warlords, and under the Taliban; its aid workers were said to understand the Afghan customs and sensibilities and have scrupulously obeyed prohibitions against proselytizing. None of the Christian non-profit's workers had ever been killed while on duty with the organisation.
The publicity on the massacre and its aftermath coincided with the publication of the 2010 Mid-Year Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), in which worries were expressed about the rising number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan and that was directly followed by an advice of human rights organisation Amnesty International that the Taliban should be prosecuted for war crimes. According to the UNAMA report, the tactics of the Taliban and other Anti-Government Elements (AGEs) were behind a 31 per cent increase in conflict-related civilian casualties in the first six months of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009. Casualties attributed to Pro-Government Forces (PGF) fell 30 per cent during the same period, driven by a 64 per cent decline in deaths and injuries caused by aerial attacks. Many Afghans blame the international forces for the civilian deaths, "stirring up greater violence by fomenting new recruits for the Taliban, for arming militias in the countryside, and for propping up warlords and corrupt Afghan officials".
Ambush The team, which included a doctor, a dentist and an optometrist, was returning to Kabul after providing eye care to villagers in Parun valley in Nuristan Province, south of Badakhshan Province in Northeast Afghanistan. They had been running an eye camp in Nuristan, for which they had received permission from the Afghan government. They had chosen to travel through a forest in Badakhshan as this was considered a safer route back to Kabul. The team was attacked when they stopped after fording a river. They were killed immediately, without any negotiation. The gunmen took them into the forest, stood them in a line and shot them one by one. One Afghan driver was spared after he started chanting verses from the Qur'an. When the bodies were recovered, the victims appeared to have been robbed. The two Afghans killed worked as a watchman and a cook. The bodies of the victims were flown back to Kabul on 8 August 2010. The foreigners killed were all unpaid volunteers.
Victims There was a total of 10 victims:
Mahram Ali Mahram Ali, aged 51 years,Shaila Dewan & Rod Nordland, 2010, "Slain Aid Workers Were Bound by Their Sacrifice," The New York Times (online), 9 August 2010, see , accessed 4 January 2014. of the Hazara ethnic minority, from Wardak, Afghanistan, was a civilian contractor that had been a worker at the National Organisation for Ophthalmic Rehabilitation's (NOOR's) maintenance workshop since 2007; he served as a driver for the expedition, and as "watcher", to guard team vehicles.Rod Nordland, 2010, "Afghan Aid Leader Recalls Talk of Risk," The New York Times (online), 9 August 2010, see , accessed 4 January 2010. In this service to IAM, Ali drove and "stayed behind guarding the vehicles in Nawa when the rest of the team walked over the pass into Nuristan." Ali was described as "the only person to care for his family" by Rahim Majid, the operations manager at IAM. Ali was also survived by a wife and three young children, including one son paralyzed by polio and another son whose arm had been amputated, all supported on his monthly salary of $150.
Cheryl Beckett Cheryl Beckett, aged 32 years, was an aid worker and translator, from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, and an Indiana Wesleyan University graduate. She had lived and worked in Afghanistan since 2005, including with the humanitarian organization Operation Mercy, and specializing in nutritional gardening, kitchen gardening, maternal health and child care. Beckett was proficient in Pashto and joined the Nuristan eye camp team in part to assist as a translator for female patients.
Daniela Beyer Daniela Beyer, aged 35 years,was a German linguist and translator from Chemnitz-Wittgensdorf. She specialized in German, English and Russian, whilst also speaking Dari, knowing Wakhi and Munji, as well as learning Pashto. Beyer had previously worked with the International Assistance Mission between 2007 and 2009, conducting linguistic research, and later founded a non-governmental organization dedicated to documenting and preserving minority languages in Afghanistan. She joined the eye camp team to provide translation support, particularly for female patients.[Die in Afghanistan getötete Dolmetscherin aus Sachsen ist in ihrer Kirchgemeinde in Chemnitz-Wittgensdorf beigesetzt worden. "In Afghanistan getötete Chemnitzerin beigesetzt"]
Brian Carderelli Brian Carderelli, aged 25 years and from Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States, was a civilian contractor, and a professional freelance videographer who had worked with various Afghan development and humanitarian organizations in Afghanistan.Kathy Matheson (AP), 2010, "James Madison University Grad Among Those Killed in Afghanistan," The Huffington Post (online), 9 August 2010 (updated 25 May 2011), see , accessed 4 January 2014.Matthew Hay Brown, 2010, "Aid group rejects claim workers sought converts," The Baltimore Sun (blogs, online), 9 August 2010, see , accessed 4 January 2014. Carderelli had been working for the International School of Kabul, and documenting aid work done by the IAM and other groups. A statement released by his family said that Carderelli "loved people and was particularly concerned for the poor". He was a lifelong member of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg, and a 2009 graduate of James Madison University and was approaching the one year anniversary of his service in Afghanistan. According to his family, "Brian quickly fell in love with the Afghan people and culture and hoped to stay within the country for another year", and was compiling a photographic and video album entitled "The Beautiful – It's Not All War."
Thomas Grams Thomas Grams, aged 51 years, of Durango, Colorado, United States, friend of team leader Tom Little, began to work in dentistry for impoverished children about 10 years before his death, via Denver-based agency Global Dental Relief (GDR).CNN Wire Staff, 2010, "U.S. officials condemn attacks on aid workers in Afghanistan, CNN (online), 9 August 2010, see , accessed 4 January 2010. One of native twin brothers and dentists from Park Rapids, Minnesota,Sarah Smith, 2010 "Park Rapids graduate-turned-dentist killed on Afghanistan aid mission," Prairie Business (online), 11 August 2010, see , accessed 4 January 2014. Grams left their "thriving" private general dentistry practice in Durango in 2007 to join GDR full-time,Mary Urashima, 2010, "A Seed Fallen to Earth: Thomas Grams gave his life helping people in Afghanistan," Surf City Voice (online), 12 August 2010, see , accessed 4 January 2010.Eltaf Najafizada & Susan Decker, 2010 "German, Six Americans on Medical Mission Murdered in Afghanistan Ambush," Bloomberg (online), 8 August 2010, see , accessed 4 January 2014. going first to Nepal ("trekk[ing]... halfway up... Everest, carrying dental equipment by yak"), and then several times to Afghanistan, initially as a volunteer, and later as team leader. Significant Afghanistan efforts included providing free dental care in the village Wardak, "negotiat[ing] the etiquette of the burka" to found a Kabul dental clinic (employing a local female dentist), and participating in English teaching at a local school. "[U]nassuming and modest," Grams was described by the IAM as "one of our favorit[e]" aid workers.
Jawed Jawed, known by this single name, aged 24 years, from Panjshir, Afghanistan, was a civilian contractor that had been at the Eye Hospital of the Afghan Ministry of Public Health in Kabul, and was given leave to serve as the team cook at its Eye Camp. This was not his first service with IAM, where he cooked and helped with dispensing eyeglasses; per the IAM, "Jawed had been on several eye camps into Nuristan in the past, and was well loved for his sense of humor", and was known for providing his collection of music tapes for weddings and parties. The principal breadwinner for his wife, three young children, and extended family, Jawed had been excited about the $20 per day in overtime that he was earning on the medical outreach trip. Jawed's brother Abdul Bagin described his killers as "infidels; not human, not Muslims... [killing] without any judgment, without any trial".
Glen D. Lapp Glen D. Lapp, aged 40 years, was a nurse and executive assistant from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster. Lapp was a medical volunteer with the IAM and its partner, the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). He was serving as manager of IAM's provincial Ophthalmology program, and as an executive assistant for IAM in Afghanistan, and had been in Afghanistan for two years. Lapp was an alumnus of Eastern Mennonite and Johns Hopkins Universities, and had assisted the MCC in the weeks following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, with regular prior nursing work Lancaster, Supai, Arizona, and New York City.
Tom Little