Adopted by parliament in 2007, the National Stability and Reconciliation Law provides immunity to all warlords and armed factions who committed abuses before the U.S. invasion. Many of these same militants are now members of Karzai’s government, including his two vice presidents who “are former leaders of armed groups whose factions squabbled for control of the capital, Kabul, in the 1990s, when thousands of civilians were killed and hundreds of thousands fled their homes,” according to The New York Times.

 

A spokesman for Karzai said the amnesty became law without the president’s signature because it was approved by two-thirds of Parliament, eliminating any need for his approval.

 

Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, called the law an “absolute disgrace” and “a slap in the face to all the Afghans who suffered for years and years of war crimes and warlordism.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Afghanistan Says It Enacted Law to Pardon War Crimes (Reuters)

Afghanistan: Repeal Amnesty Law (Human Rights Watch)

Afghanistan Enacts Law That Gives War Criminals Blanket Immunity (by Jason Leopold, Truthout)

Accused of War Crimes, Warlord Returns to Afghanistan…to Campaign for Karzai (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Bush Stymied Investigation of Massacre by CIA-Paid Afghan Warlord (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Afghan War Crime Covered Up…Literally (AllGov)

Blood-Stained Hands: Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan's Legacy of Impunity (Human Rights Watch)