The American media may still debate which prisoners captured in Afghanistan qualify for 'prisoner of war' status, but there is now little doubt left that these prisoners and their families have been ill-treated by the US troops. At least three leading American newspapers have recently broken stories of excesses by the US troops rounding up suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban men in Afghanistan, before flying them off to the US base in Cuba.
These stories also speak of 'bits of skin, bone and hair' scattered at the numerous bombarded sites around Afghanistan. These are being collected by the ground forces and sent for DNA analysis — a clear indication that the US action in Afghanistan had all the horrors of a war fought with a vengeance, and away from the scrutiny of the media and human rights groups.
In view of these revelations, the Pentagon is finding it hard to defend its stand on the treatment of prisoners. On Monday, the US defence secretary was forced to order an inquiry into a January 24 US raid in central Afghanistan. UN sources in Kabul say excesses committed by the US troops included tying up of village women and collecting their hair samples for DNA testing, and killing of civilian men on suspicion of being linked to Al Qaeda.
Some 27 prisoners, recently set free, turned out to be cases of mistaken identity, while families of those killed mistakenly are now being compensated with a measly sum of $1,000 per person killed. Most of the killed civilians were simple country people who had never been involved with the activities of Al Qaeda or the Taliban.
These disturbing revelations lend more credibility to earlier reports that most of the several thousand Afghans killed during the American action were innocent civilians. All this, while the most wanted Taliban and Al Qaeda bigwigs remain elusive. No wonder then that now most US allies are thinking twice before lending support to any further US action in another country.
The death and destruction wrought on Afghanistan under the cover of 'enduring freedom' can only be likened to the massacre of civilians in Chechnya by the Russian action there three years ago. Will the western human rights groups now initiate an independent inquiry into what really happened in Afghanistan?
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