U.S./NATO-Backed Afghan Security Forces Engage in Ongoing Torture

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Saturday, January 26, 2013

U.S./NATO-Backed Afghan Security Forces Engage in Ongoing Torture

Afghan prison (photo: AP)

Afghanistan’s security forces have continued to torture detainees, according to a new report released by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. The torture has occurred despite admonishment from the United Nations and corrective measures by U.S./NATO commanders.

A UN panel revealed last year that Afghan authorities had employed torture techniques on hundreds of prisoners. Following the release of that report, the government promised to take action to prevent future abuses.

Instead, detainees have endured all kinds of mistreatment, from being hanged by their wrists to beatings with cables and pipes to being given electrical shocks.

After learning of the torture last year, NATO forces halted the transfers of detainees to Afghan authorities and stepped up inspections of local detention facilities. These measures were gradually phased out, only to be reinstituted with the news that the mistreatment has not stopped.

Afghanistan’s government rejected much of the new report, claiming its own internal investigation found “the allegations of torture of detainees were untrue and thus disproved." Of 80 abuse cases that the government was told to investigate, it acted on only one.

The UN interviewed 635 detainees in 89 detention facilities in 30 provinces for its latest report. More than half of the detainees said they had been tortured, which was about the same ratio the UN found in its first report.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

UN: Prisoners Still Tortured in Afghan Custody (by Heidi Vogt, Associated Press)

Anti-Torture Efforts in Afghanistan Failed, U.N. Says (by Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times)

UNAMA Releases Report on Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees in Afghan Custody (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan)

Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees in Afghan Custody: One Year On (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights)

New Afghan Commander Oversaw Torture Program (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Other Governments Investigating Bush-Era Torture; Obama Administration Silent (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Comments

Irenita 12 years ago

Everything from everyone in this farce is awayls a little too late .and it will continue to be so. Way to go everyone! Isn't talk a wonderful thing? It must be so hard for people to stand up for their convictions when they can no longer do anything about them. So much easier than action would have been at the time. Kind of reminds me of those Repugs who are awayls unsettled by things like The Decider's incompetence and shitting all over the Constitution, or the conduct of our #1 lawyer (is this guy really STILL Atty Gen? Is a silly and completely symbolic (and ineffectual) NO CONFIDENCE VOTE REALLY this controversial? Man, what would happen if Congress actually had to DO something?) but when the time comes for them to put their money where their mouths are (Hello, Sens Specter and McCain and Hagel!), they run over each other like lemmings in a stampede to prove who's more loyal to the Grande Old Party. But that would be giving lemmings a bad name. At least some have the good sense to jump off cliffs or drown themselves in conditions of overcrowding not so much the case inside the beltway.

deedee 12 years ago

! am so sorry for your experience, Jacob. I want to take a stand for people like you. What you described is truly jaw-dropping. I am shocked and appalled. You are inspiring me to go into Law in order to do the right thing and find out who is corrupt to change things for a better future.

jacob 12 years ago

I was tortured for almost 3 years by the FBI and their friends only because 85 years old man, Roland H Sibens(chicago), NOW HE IS 88, convinced them that I am a terrorist. I was tortured for working on my prosthetic legs in the basement. I done absolutely nothing illegal or wrong. They thought that in theory it is possible to hide bomb in them. They saw an opportunity to get famous, so they were trying to torture me till I sign their insane story. They tortured me using more than 100 different torturing methods and trust to me waterboarding is not how they torture nowadays. I dont know where to find justice. I think that after 9/11 things got out of control. Freedom fighters became tyrants. In 1945, most Germans had an opportunity to learn about Nazis death camps. I hope that one day American citizens will get chance to learn about people like me, who were tortured with no reason for years.

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U.S./NATO-Backed Afghan Security Forces Engage in Ongoing Torture

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