US abuses unaccountable in Afghanistan

In a damning report, a leading human rights group said this week that the United States has failed to adequately investigate and prosecute numerous cases of detainee abuse by US personnel in Afghanistan. Human Rights Watch said that though they welcomed the sentence given this week to a CIA contractor convicted in the killing of an Afghan detainee in 2003, this was a "singular exception to an otherwise poor record of accountability." A US federal court in Raleigh, North Carolina sentenced CIA contractor David Passaro on Feb. 13 to eight-and-a-half years in prison for assault. He was found guilty of beating detainee Abdul Wali to death with a flashlight at a border post on the Pakistan border in June 2003. "No one should be above the law in Afghanistan," said Human Rights Watch's Sam Zarifi. "The United States and its allies have promised to reform the rule of law and the justice system in Afghanistan, but until the US is willing to provide accountability for its own forces, these pledges are not credible." Human Rights Watch catalogued numerous cases of abuse and killings in Afghanistan implicating US military and CIA personnel, in which US authorities have failed to hold perpetrators responsible. According to the group, the Passaro incident is similar to many other cases of alleged abuse by US soldiers in Afghanistan. During Passaro's trial, it was revealed that the CIA contractor subjected Wali to a "chamber of horrors," where he was deprived of sleep and denied food and water. Witnesses said that Passaro ordered Wali to endure over 48 hours of interrogation and beatings, striking Wali on the shins, elbows and wrists, and kicking Wali in the groin so hard that the blow lifted him off the ground. Witnesses also said Wali, who denied any wrongdoing, at one point begged his captors to shoot him. Human Rights Watch pointed out that under US federal law, Passaro's actions qualified him for torture and homicide charges, which carry life sentences. "One person going to prison is not accountability for widespread abuse," said Zarifi. "Numerous other US personnel have been implicated in detainee killings in Afghanistan, yet few have been punished–and most of those punished have received only slaps on the wrist." Human Rights Watch said there had been several killings of detainees in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003 in which US military personnel were implicated, but not appropriately investigated. Further, the group charged that the military has consistently failed to prosecute senior officers for command responsibility. They said that the failure of accountability in Afghanistan was well illustrated by a military unit involved in interrogations in Afghanistan in 2002–the Army's 519th Military Intelligence Battalion–which was later sent to Iraq and implicated in the infamous abuses of Abu Ghraib prison. "The failure to investigate senior US officials for their role in authorizing detainee abuse is not for lack of evidence but for lack of political will," said Zarifi. The US military continues to operate in Afghanistan without any legal framework. "The Afghan constitution, passed in 2004, does not apply in practice to Afghans held by the United States," said Zarifi. "US forces in Afghanistan are operating outside the rule of law." Failures of accountability According to military documents, four US military personnel in Afghanistan killed an Afghan detainee in September 2002. The Army Criminal Investigative Command began an investigation in September 2002 but never prosecuted any of those accused, even though they found probable cause to recommend charges of murder, conspiracy, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice. The inquiry ultimately resulted in a captain receiving a single reprimand for destroying evidence. In December 2002, a CIA officer working at a facility near Kabul referred to as the "Salt Pit," ordered an Afghan detainee to be stripped naked, dragged around naked on rocky ground and then restrained overnight, naked, in the cold. The detainee died that night, presumably from hypothermia. An internal CIA investigation into the death resulted in a criminal referral to the Department of Justice, but it does not appear that the Department of Justice ever sought to investigate or bring criminal charges. The officer implicated in the death was reportedly promoted. Afghan Army soldier Jamal Naseer was killed in March 2003 after he and seven other soldiers were mistakenly arrested by US forces and taken to a base in Gardez. Their case was investigated by the United Nations office in Gardez and the office of the Attorney General of the Afghan National Army. Their investigations showed that US forces severely beat Naseer and the other soldiers while in custody. The surviving soldiers said that US forces punched them, kicked them, hung them upside down and hit them with sticks or cables, among other abuses. Some said they were soaked in cold water and forced to lie in snow, and shocked with electricity on their toes. The Army opened an investigation into the case in May 2004 and in early 2007 recommended that two soldiers be charged with abuse. On Jan. 27, the two soldiers received administrative reprimands as their punishment. Two detainees also died at the US Bagram air base in December 2002. The men, named Habibullah and Dilawar, died after suffering extensive beatings and mistreatment by military intelligence and military police. The killings were not fully investigated by the Army until details of the deaths were reported in the New York Times. Investigators ultimately recommended that at least 27 different personnel, including military police, be criminally charged, both for crimes relating to the deaths and for other abuses. To this day, few of the soldiers and officers implicated have been punished, and none of those convicted were sentenced to more than a few months in prison. Human Rights Watch's report indicates that two of the military police received particularly light punishments: Willie Brand, who admitted to kicking and striking one of the detainees over 30 times, and who was initially charged with homicide and ultimately found guilty of cruelty and maltreatment, assault, maiming and making a false official statement was only punished with a rank reduction and received an honorable discharge. Selena Salcedo, another soldier directly involved in beating the detainees and found guilty of assault and dereliction of duty, was merely fined $1,000 and given a letter of reprimand.