Analysis: Probing war crimes in Afghanistan
KABUL, 15 August 2010 (IRIN): The rising number of civilian casualties and the leaking of thousands of confidential war papers by whistleblower (sladrehanke) website Wikileaks have prompted fresh calls to bring alleged war criminals in Afghanistan to book.
Immediately after the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a 10 August report on civilian casualties, the UK-based Amnesty International said the Taliban must be prosecuted for war crimes.
“The Taliban and other insurgents are becoming far bolder in their systematic killing of civilians. Targeting of civilians is a war crime, plain and simple” Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director, said in a press release.
Taliban insurgents have been widely condemned for their alleged deliberate, widespread and systematic attacks on civilians.
UNAMA’s report – rejected by the Taliban as biased and one-sided – blamed the insurgents for 76 percent of the 3.286 civilian casualties (1.271 deaths and 1.997 injuries) reported in January-June 2010.
UNAMA attributed 12 percent of the civilian casualties (223 deaths and 386 injuries) to pro-government forces.
The report blamed the Taliban for the rising number of civilian casual-ties, while welcoming the reduction in military harm to non-combatants by pro-government Afghan and foreign forces. Civilian casualties attributed to US/NATO forces were described as unintentional or “collateral” damage.
The leaked US/NATO war documents, however, point to possible war crimes committed by pro-government forces, according to the founder and director of Wikileaks, Julian Assange.
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