Following their surrender at Kunduz in northern Afghanistan at the end of November 2001, 3,000 Taliban prisoners were marked for transportation to Sheberghan prison by the Northern Alliance. However, 960 men failed to survive the journey, according to a witness quoted in a confidential UN report seen by Newsweek.

Prisoners at Sheberghan prison reveal what the journey was like: 'One 20-year-old was shoved into a fully packed container. After about eight hours, he thinks, the prisoners began kicking the sides of the container and shouting for air and water. None came. Some of the prisoners began using their turbans to soak and drink the sweat off each other’s bodies. After a few more hours many of the prisoners started going crazy and bit each other’s fingertips, arms and legs. Anything to get moisture. By the time they reached Sheberghan, the young man says, only about 40 in his container were still alive.'

The report says that evidence of mass graves on the road from Kunduz to Sheberghan is 'sufficient to justify a fully-fledged criminal investigation'.

Newsweek adds: 'Pentagon spokesmen have obfuscated when faced with questions on the subject. Officials across the administration did not respond to repeated requests by Newsweek for a detailed accounting of U.S. activities in the Konduz, Mazar-e Sharif and Sheberghan areas at the time in question, and Defense Department spokespersons have made statements that are false.' [Newsweek].