In Afghanistan, paramilitary groups supported by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and operating with impunity summarily execute civilians during night raids and disappear suspects, denounces Human Rights Watch (HRW).
In a report released Thursday, the human rights organization presents information collected on 14 raids of these "strike groups" assisted by the CIA between late 2017 and mid-2019, during which "serious violations" some "going as far as war crimes" were committed.
The report is based on interviews with 39 residents of Ghazni, Helmand, Kabul, Kandahar, Nangarhar, Paktia, Uruzgan, Wardak and Zabul provinces, including several witnesses of night-time operations, as well as with Afghan rights organizations. humans who have documented these attacks.
One of these operations, which occurred in Paktia province in August, saw a paramilitary group kill eleven men in one village. "Witnesses say that none of them offered resistance ... The forces shot a tribal chief with a bullet in one eye and his nephew, in his twenties, (a bullet) in the mouth, "writes HRW in his report (summarized here in French).
"False or exaggerated"
The CIA disputed the report's content, saying that most of the wrongs attributed to Afghan forces were "presumably false or exaggerated". "Unlike the Taliban, the United States is committed to the rule of law, we do not tolerate illegal activities and will not knowingly participate in such crimes," she said in a statement.
Secret militias supported by the CIA have been active in Afghanistan since the war against the Soviet army in the 1980s. Their action against the Taliban intensifies as the war against the insurgents continues.
According to HRW, since 2011 the CIA has maintained a parallel anti-terrorist device in Afghanistan, distinct from US military operations. It continued to recruit, equip, train and deploy Afghan paramilitary forces tasked with fighting al-Qaeda and the Taliban and, since 2014, ISIL affiliates.
US air strikes
In many cases cited by HRW, raids - usually in Taliban-controlled areas - were accompanied by air strikes that killed civilians "blindly and disproportionately," the report said. However, according to statistics released this week by NATO, the United States conducted more than 1,100 air and ground strikes in Afghanistan in September, a figure that has increased sharply compared to previous months.
"By intensifying operations against the Taliban, the CIA has allowed Afghan forces (...) to commit atrocities, including extrajudicial executions and disappearances," said Patricia Gossman, author of the report and associate director of HRW Asia. .
Paramilitaries depend on Afghan intelligence services (NDS) and are not subject to normal chain of command. A diplomat interviewed by HRW described them as "death squads".
The HRW report "reflects some realities," tweeted the Afghan National Security Council Office, which oversees the NDS. "Some information needs clarification," he wrote again, adding that reforms were underway to "address these issues."
(2/2) with these issues. Although the report has some realities, there is some information that requires clarification. We, therefore, are evaluating the report and will provide a thorough response in the near future.
ONSC Press (@NSCAfghan) October 31, 2019With AFP