31 Oct 2019, 17:21

CIA backs Afghan forces involved in human rights abuses — report

Earlier, media informed that during her trip to Afghanistan in April 2019, CIA Director Gina Haspel discussed increasing the presence of US intelligence agencies in the country

Aerial view of the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters wikimedia.org/Carol M. Highsmith/Public Domain

Aerial view of the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters

© wikimedia.org/Carol M. Highsmith/Public Domain

NEW YORK, October 31. /TASS/. The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is backing Afghan armed formations involved in mass executions and other grave human rights abuses, the Human Rights Watch organization informs in a report published on its website on Thursday.

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The 53-page document titled "‘They’ve Shot Many Like This’: Abusive Night Raids by CIA-Backed Afghan Strike Forces" documents 14 cases from late 2017 to mid-2019 in which CIA-backed Afghan forces "committed serious abuses, some amounting to war crimes."

"In case after case, these forces have simply shot people in their custody and consigned entire communities to the terror of abusive night raids and indiscriminate airstrikes," the report’s author Patricia Gossman said.

"The US should work with the Afghan government to immediately disband and disarm all paramilitary forces that operate outside the ordinary military chain of command and cooperate with independent investigations of all allegations of war crimes and other human rights abuses," the report stressed.

Earlier, CNN informed that during her trip to Afghanistan in April 2019, CIA Director Gina Haspel discussed increasing the presence of US intelligence agencies in the country.

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