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HRW: CIA-Trained 'Death Squads' Behind Afghan War Crimes

RFE/RL

   Human Rights Watch (HRW) says CIA-backed Afghan paramilitary forces
   have "committed summary executions and other grave abuses without
   accountability" -- including extrajudicial killings, forced
   disappearances, and attacks on health-care facilities.

   In its report, released on Thursday, HRW called on the Afghan
   government to immediately disband all pro-government paramilitary
   groups that operate outside the "ordinary military chain of command."

   It is also calling for the Afghan government to "impartially
   investigate all allegations of abuse by Afghan security forces" and to
   "prosecute those responsible for war crimes and serious abuses."

   It says both the United States and the Afghan government should also
   "cooperate with independent investigations of all allegations of war
   crimes and other human rights abuses."

   It also says the U.S. government should "investigate any U.S.
   personnel" involved in abuses, and should "cease supporting Afghan
   forces that have been responsible for serious violations."

   HRW documented 14 cases from late 2017 to mid-2019 in which it said
   CIA-backed "strike groups" committed grave abuses during night raids,
   such as one in the southeastern province of Paktia in which a
   paramilitary squad killed 11 men, including eight who were home for the
   Eid holidays.

   In some cases, HRW says, troops detained men and didn't tell families
   where they were being held.

   The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has disputed the HRW report,
   saying many of the claims against Afghan special forces were "likely
   false or exaggerated."

   "In ramping up operations against the Taliban, the CIA has enabled
   abusive Afghan forces to commit atrocities including extrajudicial
   executions and disappearances," said Patricia Gossman, the report's
   author and HRW's associate Asia director.

   "In case after case, these forces have simply shot people in their
   custody and consigned entire communities to the terror of abusive night
   raids and indiscriminate air strikes," Grossman said.

   Night raids, which combine surprise, overwhelming firepower, and
   night-vision equipment, are a tactic preferred by special forces.

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