Afghanistan: US night raids and secret prisons anger civilians

An investigative report published on TomDispatch.com about U.S. forces' operations in Afghanistan paints a gruesome picture of surprise night raids, indiscriminate killing and random detention of civilians during those raids, as well as what appears to be widespread use of torture of Afghan detainees. The story by Anand Gopal, dated Jan. 28 and to be published in the Nation magazine as well, cites gross human rights violations just as officials from 70 nations and organizations are in London for a conference to help Afghanistan emerge from conflict. The report shows that the violations continued well after U.S. President Obama took office last year, despite U.S. and NATO emphasis on winning the hearts and minds of local Afghans as counterinsurgency operations are stepped up. The chief U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, had promised to wage a cleaner war in which there would be fewer home raids and civilian casualties. "If you talk to a lot of rural Pashtuns, they say they want to be protected, but they want to be protected from both the U.S. military and the Taliban," Gopal told IPS, referring to members of Afghanistan's largest ethnic group. "And if that's the case, then I think the counterinsurgency approach hasn't been implemented in the way that they are hoping to implement it."