"Accountability needed for civilian casualties in Afghanistan
Canadian soldier stands on guard near a river in Arghandab, Afghanistan
© Canadian Department of National Defence
26 February 2009
President Barack Obama approved the deployment of extra troops in Afghanistan last week and urged NATO allies to follow suit. Amnesty International has urged forces to do more to provide accountability for civilian casualties of military action."2008 was the most violent year for civilians since the fall of the Taleban and Afghans are increasingly resentful about civilians casualties caused by international forces during night raids and other actions of this sort," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director.. "The challenge for the USA and its allies is to ensure that the surge of international troops into the country will provide better security for Afghans, and not put them at greater risk."
The killing of two brothers in Kandahar in the middle of the night last January is a notable example of the lack of accountability of international forces. Amnesty International’s research in Kandahar indicates that Abdul Habib and Mohammed Ali, who were unarmed, were shot at home at point blank range by international forces in camouflage uniforms.
More than a year later, no one has admitted responsibility despite enquiries by Amnesty International, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston.
"The ongoing impunity surrounding the deaths of Abdul Habib and Mohammed Ali highlights the lack of proper accountability for Western forces operating in Afghanistan," said Sam Zarifi. "The country is at tipping point and civilians are increasingly questioning whether their government and its international allies are doing enough to protect them.
The Taleban have stoked public resentment and international forces have not yet demonstrated that they are serious about conducting investigations of incidents and providing accountability and compensation to the victims."
So far, no one has accepted responsibility for the deaths of the two brothers. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) told Amnesty International that no NATO/ISAF personnel were involved in the operation. The US military has not acknowledged taking part in this incident.
However, Amnesty International has received information that the operation was conducted by personnel operating out of Firebase Gecko (also known as Firebase Maholic). This is located at the former home of Taleban leader Mullah Omar, which is now used as a US base.
It houses regular international troops and special forces units, as well as personnel from intelligence agencies forces, such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). These forces are often referred to as "other government agencies" or OGAs.
Afghan security forces in Kandahar have confirmed that they do not exercise any control or command over the activity of special forces or OGAs operating out of Firebase Gecko and cannot provide any remedy for civilians injured by the action of units based there.
Amnesty International has commended recent policies adopted by NATO and US forces to minimize harm to civilians, but pointed out that there is still great confusion about the chains of command, mandates and rules of engagement of personnel from the nearly 40 countries operating military forces in Afghanistan."
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November 2nd, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I think that the big problem was this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/world/europe/02iceland.html?scp=1&sq=iceland%20britain&st=cse
“The troubles between the countries began three weeks ago when Britain took the extraordinary step of using its 2001 antiterrorism laws to freeze the British assets of a failing Icelandic bank. That appeared to brand Iceland a terrorist state.
“I must admit that I was absolutely appalled,” the Icelandic foreign minister, Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, said in an interview, describing her horror at opening the British treasury department’s home page at the time and finding Iceland on a list of terrorist entities with Al Qaeda, Sudan and North Korea, among others.
In a volatile economic climate, in which appearance matters almost as much as reality, being associated with terrorism is not a good thing.
“The immediate effect was to trigger an almost complete freeze on any banking transactions between Iceland and abroad,” said Jon Danielsson, an economist at the London School of Economics. “When you’re labeled a terrorist, nobody does business with you.”
The Icelandic prime minister, Geir H. Haarde, accused Britain of “bullying a small neighbor” and said the action was “very out of proportion.” In a recent speech in Beijing, Sir Howard Davies, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England and now the director of the London School of Economics, said that Britain had used a “beggar thy neighbor” approach to Iceland.
And an online petition signed so far by more than 20 percent of Iceland’s population said the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, had sacrificed Iceland “for his own short-term political gain,” thereby turning “a grave situation into a national disaster.”
In other words, Britain used extraordinary measures to halt the movement of funds that Iceland needed to avert the avalanche. By the way, Britain is doing a pretty good job of looking out for it’s own interests in this crisis. Brown has just been in the Gulf trying to direct money to Britain."