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Us abuses in afghanistan are alleged { March 8 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan8mar08,1,3655441.story?coll=la-headlines-worldhttp://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan8mar08,1,3655441.story?coll=la-headlines-world
THE WORLD
U.S. Abuses in Afghanistan Are Alleged
Human Rights Watch reports a pattern of mistreatment of prisoners by troops.
By Paul Watson
Times Staff Writer
March 8, 2004
NEW DELHI — U.S. troops in Afghanistan use excessive force during arrests, mistreat prisoners and commit other human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch charged in a report released today.
"In doing so, the United States is endangering the lives of Afghan civilians, undermining efforts to restore the rule of law in Afghanistan, and calling into question its commitment to upholding basic rights," the New York-based human rights group said in its report.
The group also said the Defense Department had not adequately explained at least three deaths of prisoners in U.S. custody, two of which were declared homicides by U.S. military doctors.
The report focuses on eastern and southeastern Afghanistan, where U.S.-led coalition forces continue to battle the ousted Taliban militia, members of the Al Qaeda terrorist network and supporters of renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
The U.S. military said it was aware of Human Rights Watch's accusations and had already addressed some of the problems cited in the report.
"We do take them seriously," Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said from Kabul, the capital. He says U.S. troops follow the law during operations in Afghanistan.
"Our combat operations comply with the law of armed conflict and are conducted with appropriate, and strict, rules of engagement," Hilferty said.
He acknowledged that the U.S. military changed its procedures at the Bagram air base north of Kabul after the deaths of two prisoners in December.
The two prisoners were declared homicide victims by U.S. military doctors who performed autopsies. Their death certificates cited "blunt force injuries" to the legs. U.S. officials have refused to provide any details about the June 2003 death of a man in a detention facility near the eastern town of Asadabad, Human Rights Watch said.
"We investigate all credible reports, and there is an ongoing investigation into the deaths of persons under custody," Hilferty said.
But Human Rights Watch said its investigations, and those of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, have found a pattern of abuse at Bagram and at least two other detention centers, and it believes U.S. authorities have failed to stop the mistreatment of prisoners.
"There is credible evidence of beatings and other physical assaults of detainees, as well as evidence that the United States has used prolonged shackling, exposure to cold, and sleep deprivation amounting to torture or other mistreatment in violation of international law," the group said.
Militant groups in Afghanistan routinely attack civilians and aid workers and bomb nonmilitary targets such as markets. Five aid workers have been killed in the last three weeks. On Saturday, armed men on motorcycles killed a senior Afghan aid worker in southeastern Zabol province as he was driving home from work in the provincial capital, Qalat.
Human Rights Watch said militants responsible for attacks on civilians should be investigated and prosecuted. "But the activities of these groups are no excuse for U.S. violations," the report added.
The group estimates that coalition forces have detained 1,000 people in Afghanistan since 2002. Though some of the captives were involved in combat, others were "civilians with no apparent connection to ongoing hostilities," the report said.
U.S. troops have killed Afghan civilians unnecessarily by repeatedly using deadly force, including attacks from helicopter gunships, in areas under the control of their Afghan allies, the report charged. In some cases, the attacks may amount to violations of humanitarian law, the report stated.
"U.S. forces regularly use military means and methods during arrest operations in residential areas where law enforcement techniques would be more appropriate," the group said.
Hilferty responded that U.S. troops are in Afghanistan to fight a war, not for law enforcement. "Afghanistan is currently a combat zone, and forces here are engaged in combat operations against determined enemy forces," he said. "Al Qaeda and [the] Taliban have stated repeatedly that they are at war."
Human Rights Watch cited several examples of what it called excessive force, including what the group described as indiscriminate shooting to ward off potential attackers in an eastern Afghan village under the control of U.S.-allied Afghan forces.
Niaz Mohammed, a farmer sleeping next to recently harvested wheat, died after he was shot in the back and foot during a U.S. raid in July 2002 in eastern Paktia province, the rights group said. A woman in a nearby house was wounded by stray gunfire.
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