Afghanistan's parliament has granted immunity to all Afghans involved in the country's 25 years of conflict, legislators said today.
The decision passed yesterday in the lower house, Wolesi Jirga, would also cover fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who now heads his own militant group, critics and supporters of the move said.
Human Rights groups have strongly pressed the government to punish those guilty of abuses, including some members of parliament and senior government officials, saying justice was vital for peace.
But the national assembly said its motion would help reconciliation in a nation shattered by years of war and civil strife.
"In order to bring reconciliation among various strata in the society, all those political and belligerent sides who were involved one way or the other during the two-and-half decades of war will not be prosecuted legally and judicially," the motion passed by the assembly says.
The Wolesi Jirga elected in late 2005 includes former senior communist officials, ex-Mujahideen leaders who fought the Soviets and some former Taliban. Dozens are accused of human rights abuses.
Several lawmakers said President Hamid Karzai, who has led Afghanistan since the Taliban was ousted in 2001, knew of the assembly's move in advance.