Afghanistan government accuses US special forces of civilian death and torture

us special forces afghanistan
US special forces in Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai's government has ordered the elite force to leave Maidan Wardak province over claims of killing or torture of disappeared civilians. Photograph: David Bathgate/ David Bathgate/Corbis




The provincial governor and other officials from Maidan Wardak presented evidence against US forces at the national security council meeting. The presidential palace later issued a statement saying: "After a thorough discussion, it became clear that armed individuals named as US special forces stationed in Wardak province engage in harassing, annoying, torturing and even murdering innocent people.







Afghanistan's elite commando forces, including the 1st, 2nd and 6th special operations kandak, also operate in Maidan Wardak, often working alongside US special forces. Faizi said that this association had also fuelled negative feeling towards the Afghan government in the area, something officials wanted to stem.

Lotfullah Najafizada, the head of current affairs at TOLOnews television channel, said: "President Karzai apparently believes that the US special forces are more part of the problem than the solution."

The banning of US special forces from Maidan Wardak following steadily mounting unease expressed by the Karzai government over Nato operations. After last week's National Security Council meeting, an order [] was issued for Afghan forces "to impede operations" by parallel militias set up by foreign coalition forces outside the Afghan military chain of command, which have long been a source of irritation to Karzai. Afghan forces were also banned from calling in Nato airstrikes after nine civilians were killed in a single incident.

The palace announcement served as a reminder that the size and nature of western forces remaining in Afghanistan after 2014 are far from agreed. Karzai was reportedly irked but reports from a Nato meeting in Brussels on Friday [] , at which a follow-out force of 12,000 was discussed. Leon Panetta, the outgoing US defence secretary was quoted as saying that the mainly American force would be deployed in all areas of the country. Observers in Kabul suggested that Karzai's announcement was intended as a message to Washington not to take Afghan acquiescence in US decisions on bases and unilateral counter-terrorist operations for granted. There have also been tough negotiations between the Washington and Kabul over American demands that serving US soldiers should have immunity under Afghan law.

"This decision is going to complicate the negotiations over bilateral security agreements with the United States," Najafizada said. The Americans want to be able to carry out unilateral counter-terrorist operations after 2014 which can justify their presence domestically in the US, but now it seems to be the hard piece to negotiate, along with immunity."

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