KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - U.S. operations in Afghanistan are marred by needless civilian casualties, lawless arrests and the alleged torture of prisoners, Human Rights Watch said Monday.
| Recycled complaints, see below. |
The U.S. military rejected the group's findings, saying it "confused the situation" in strife-torn Afghanistan for one where peacetime methods could be used.
| "Them HRW boys have been in the sun too long!" |
Still, the report raises stupid, time-wasting uncomfortable questions for the United States as it embarks on new operations to crush elusive militants like al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. "The behavior of the United States sends the message that the U.S. operates on a set of double standards," the New York-based rights group said, referring the Washington's criticism of other countries' human rights records.
| That should be good for a quarter-mil in new donations from the NPR tote-bag set. |
The 50-page report said the military used excessive force to capture suspects in residential areas. The report also slammed American forces for an assault on an arms-filled compound in southeastern Paktia province last December that triggered explosions, toppled a wall and crushed six children to death. Another raid the following day killed nine more children, when a U.S. warplane strafed a mountain village in neighboring Ghazni province. The military says it has modified its procedures after the deaths of the children, and insisted its record in avoiding civilian casualties was "outstanding." "We're not perfect," U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said. "But we work hard to improve."
| Compared to say, the Soviet approach to Afghanistan. |
Human Rights Watch said the military's approach has helped alienate America's fair weather friends allies, angered many Afghans and "lessened their willingness to cooperate with U.S. forces." The report also criticized U.S. treatment of some of the estimated 1,000 Afghans and other nationals arrested in Afghanistan since 2002. Suspects seized by American troops are often whisked to Bagram, the main U.S. base north of Kabul. The CIA also runs prisons in Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch said. Other suspects languish in prisons run by local Afghan warlords, many of them allies of the U.S.-backed government. Those eventually released from jails such as Bagram have told of abuses, according to the report, though it notes that conditions appear to have improved since the first months after the war.
| No credit for that, however. |
The report cites several already publicized accounts, including one given by two former prisoners to The Associated Press in March 2003. The men said they were held awake, exposed to cold and forced to stand for long periods, measures "amounting to torture or other mistreatment in violation of international law," Human Rights Watch said. A U.S. military spokesman at the time acknowledged these techniques but denied they amounted to mistreatment.
| "We're tired of dealing with these guys. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go shave." |
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