UN ENVOY WARNS OF SECRET ASSASSINS

Washington and London cannot be pleased with claims by a senior UN envoy that secret killing squads are operating in parts of Afghanistan that are under American and British control.
Professor Philip Alston, a special investigator for the UN’s Human Rights Council, recently completed a preliminary report on extra-judicial killings in Afghanistan and was scathing in his criticism of the US and its NATO allies for a lack of transparency and accountability in respect of their duties to fully abide by international law.
His most disturbing observations related to his expertise in what could be called dirty war tactics, or as it he chose to put it, “foreign intelligence agencies” using illegal, specially trained Afghan groups against the Taliban. They were, he claimed, carrying out killings that were planned and executed outside of the normal military chain of command. They were, he stressed, clearly beyond the law and “completely unacceptable.”
He was particularly troubled by what he called a “staggeringly high level of complacency” in response to “gratuitous” civilian killings and referred to the fact that it was “absolutely unacceptable for heavily armed internationals accompanied by heavily armed Afghan forces to be wandering around conducting dangerous raids that too often resulted in killings without anyone taking responsibility.
His use of language was a devastating indicting of certain types of what might be called “black ops” and he mentioned them as though they were being carried out in a cavalier fashion without any proper military oversight. For example he lashed out at NATO’s International Security Force, accusing it of not keeping proper records of the killing of civilians. He found its system was at times “deliberately opaque,” meaning in it effect that it was deliberately vague to prevent ordinary Afghans from finding out who had destroyed their homes or bombed their villages.
His comments echoed charges made in the past in Iraq, but this was the first someone of his stature had made them publicly. Reporters asked him to name the foreign intelligence agencies” running what he was implying were death squads but he refused. However, he may change his mind when he writes his full report due to be published later this year. Some observers felt he was indirectly pointing a finger at the CIA, which has been involved in training Afghans for counter insurgency. But the fact is there are other unnamed US intelligence agencies operating in Afghanistan, as well as Britain’s MI6 and SAS.
Prof. Alston told reporters there were large numbers of raids for which no state or military appeared to take responsibility.
“I have spoken to a large number of people in relation to the operation of foreign intelligence units. I don’t want to name them but they are at the most senior level of the relevant places. These forces operate with what appears to be impunity,” he added, and pointed to a raid in which two Afghan brothers were killed by soldiers operating out of a US Special Forces base. He also made mention of an Afghan group called Shaheen that functioned from a place under US control.
Just as in Iraq, there is a war being conducted in the shadows that does not come under the traditional military chain of command. It is run by intelligence agencies like the CIA but also by other groups that have a highly classified role tied to the Defense Department and the Ministry of Defence in London. As a rule, the military chain of command does not like the fact that operations are carried out without its approval by groups not tied to the military structure. For example, during the British army’s recent war against the IRA, generals became concerned about the activities of secret intelligence units that ran terrorist agents. Some agents carried out extra-judicial assassinations using targeted information provided by their intelligence handlers. In other instances, members of secret units carried out killings that were not attributed to them. The regular military chain of command did not approve of that form of warfare but had no authority to rein it in.
The shadowy war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban is an inevitable part of counter-insurgency in modern conflict but the Professor says he has evidence it lacks proper operational control. Therefore, those running are not accountable and feel they have immunity to do what they wish. He also believes it is claiming the lives of too many innocent civilians and that NATO has been turning a blind eye to the issue. His experience shows that the slaughter of innocents provides the enemy with propaganda and alienates the civilian population.
He was just as scathing about the Taliban and what he called other anti-government elements that were responsible for the majority of unlawful killings. In his opinion, it was time for people concerned with human rights to bring more pressure to bear on the Taliban to end their campaign of wanton and brutal murders and the routine use of suicide bombers. He was dismissive of those who said talking to the Taliban provided them with legitimacy.
“The Taliban exist, they are engaged in widespread killings; we have an obligation not to stand on formalities, but to seek to diminish civilian casualties and killings,” he told reporters
The Afghan police were not spared his critical view of the failure of the Afghan government to protect the right of its own people.
“The police are the face of the government. If they serve and protect the people the government will have legitimacy. If they extort, intimidate and kill, the government will have no legitimacy,” he warned.
He also derided the Afghan government for providing judicial impunity for the “wealthy and powerful” a clear reference to the fact that in such a corrupt society wealthy tribal and militia leaders are rarely held accountable for their actions, or for the actions of those close to them or under their command.
Prof. Alston’s observations and indictment of “foreign Intelligence agencies,” as well as the Afghan government and police, couldn’t have come at a worse time for the mainly US led war in Afghanistan. What will now worry NATO and its Afghan allies is whether more controversial revelations will surface when he publishes his full report later this year.