Posted on 06/23/2004 8:21:06 AM PDT by areafiftyone
KABUL, June 23 (Reuters) - The reported beheading of Taliban captives by Afghan forces this week would be a war crime and the troops and commanders responsible should be put on trial, a U.S.-based human rights group said on Wednesday.
Namatullah Tokhi, commander of the Afghan government's 27th militia division in Zabul province, said on Tuesday soldiers there beheaded four Taliban fighters a day earlier after guerrillas cut off the heads of an Afghan interpreter for U.S.-led forces and an Afghan government soldier.
Summary executions of prisoners were a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions and human rights law, said John Sifton, Human Rights Watch representative for Afghanistan.
"If these beheadings actually occurred, it is a very serious incident: the killing of captured prisoners in the context of an international conflict is a war crime," he said.
The soldiers responsible, and the commanders who could have prevented the killings, should be arrested and tried, he said.
"If U.S. or coalition forces were on site during the killings, as they usually are during anti-Taliban operations, and they failed to try to stop the killings, they may be culpable in the crimes as well."
U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Tucker Mansager told a briefing in Kabul he had no knowledge of any incident in Zabul beyond reports in the media.
Tokhi told Reuters the interpreter and the soldier were beheaded after becoming separated from a patrol of Afghan and U.S.-led foreign troops in the Arghandab district of Zabul.
He said government troops later captured and killed four Taliban guerrillas in the same way.
"They cut off their heads with a knife, so when our forces arrested four Taliban, we cut off their heads too," he said. Contacted again on Wednesday, Tokhi denied speaking to Reuters.
"NOT INVOLVED"
A spokesman for the Defence Ministry said the matter was under investigation, but stressed there was no involvement by the Western-trained Afghan National Army (ANA), a fledgling force fighting militants alongside U.S.-led foreign troops.
Asked if the beheadings took place, he said: "We say that this act has not been carried out by the national army. We are investigating the report."
Militia forces, like Tokhi's, are on the payroll of the defence ministry and fight alongside U.S.-led forces but are not part of the new national army.
Zabul and adjoining southern provinces have been the scene of bloody clashes between Taliban guerrillas and U.S.-led and government forces since the Taliban's overthrow in late 2001.
U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan that year in pursuit of al Qaeda, the militant network sheltered by the Taliban and blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Taliban fighters have beheaded government soldiers in the past, but it is the first time government forces in Zabul have admitted doing the same, marking the escalation of a brutal conflict that has claimed more than 800 lives since last August.
The Taliban and Islamic militant allies, including al Qaeda, have declared a holy war against the 20,000-strong U.S.-led force and consider foreign and local aid workers legitimate targets as well as foreign and government soldiers and officials.
The guerrillas have also vowed to disrupt elections planned for September. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Mirwais Afghan and Sayed Salahuddin)
Watching HRW attempt to go in to id the guys who did this would be one funny situation.
Northern Alliance don't play that way.
Since they are not prisoners of war, the Geneva convention would not apply to them, even if Afghanistan were a signatory to Geneva.
I don't think that the terrorists give a rat's a$$ about the Geneva Convention.
Thank you. To counter their own claims: "the killing of captured prisoners in the context of an international conflict is a war crime,"
Afghanistan is no longer an international conflict. They have an established independent government that rules their country, and these AQ fighters are either treasonous rebels or foreign criminals. Since Afghanistan is a Muslim country, these criminals and rebels get to enjoy the fruits of Muslim law...including summary beheadings.
"Yeh, these humanitarian groups are quiet when it is al-Qaeda and Islamofanatics doing the beheadings."
Which leads me to wonder why.....are they working for Al Quaeda....are they being paid by Al Quaeda to make such remarks? I wouldn't be surprised in the least.
Bad guys killing good guys - GOOD
These "Human Rights" maggots need to just S.T.F.U.!
Human rights my butt. Terrorist scum don't have any rights.
Tit for tat.
Summary execution of non-uniformed combatants is entirely legal per the Geneva Convention, Herr Prince.
Right, arrest the war criminals. Anybody happen to get their names and notice which direction they went? No? How about the neck-smiters in Iraq? In Thailand? In Philippines?
Okay, it was Human Rights Watch, not Amensty International - but I think I called it.
This is one reason why I think Carlos Castano got a bum rap - and a raw deal from the State Department.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1158066/posts?page=96#96
To paraphrase a Buchananism...
"Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are two wings of the same deadly bird of prey."
"Yeh, these humanitarian groups are quiet when it is al-Qaeda and Islamofanatics doing the beheadings."
"Which leads me to wonder why.....are they working for Al Quaeda....are they being paid by Al Quaeda to make such remarks? I wouldn't be surprised in the least."
No, they're probably afraid that if they critize the beheadings by AQ, that they would be next.
You're kidding, right?
"The reported beheading of Taliban captives by Afghan forces this week would be a war crime and the troops and commanders responsible should be put on trial, a U.S.-based human rights group said on Wednesday."
Mr. Sifton, can you see how many fingers I'm holding up right now?
These wacko groups are one of the reasons this country has degenerated so much.
Chopping off the heads of these villains in response for the misdeeds of their buddies IS JUST, APPROPRIATE AND TIMELY.
I humbly suggest we repeat this example as many times as possible.
Human Rights Watch - Always looking out for the rights of the terrorists!
I dunno about you, but I'm holding up two, one per hand...
What is utterly maddening is that this scumbag from HRW is an American and is implying that we are also responsible for these so-called "war crimes." I would love to knock his fricken teeth out. He is lower than the enemy for he is a traitor.
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