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The human rights group warned Monday that the deaths of thousands of civilians and possible war crimes committed by U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan have gone unpunished.
According to a report released by Amnesty International, the United States makes little to no effort to even contact families of civilians killed during operations.
“The U.S. military justice system almost always fails to hold its soldiers accountable for unlawful killings and other abuses,” said Richard Bennett, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific Director.
The report mainly focuses on the impact of air strikes and controversial night raids. Amnesty says at least 140 civilians were killed in 10 incidents it investigated in the report, which occurred between 2009 and 2013. The victims include at least 50 children, along with pregnant women.
The human rights group says two of its case studies are backed by “abundant and compelling evidence of war crimes”.
One case study focuses on a 2010 Special Operations Forces raid in Paktia province, while the other involves torture and forced disappearances that were taking place in Wardak province until early 2013.
The report itself opens with a detailed description of the killing of seven women and girls by U.S. forces.
“A group of women from an impoverished village were collecting firewood in a mountainous area in Laghman province, in September 2012, when a U.S. plane dropped at least two bombs on them,” the report reads.
“None of the family members were informed why the attack took place or what justification it might have had,” Amnesty stated.
“None of the cases that we looked into – involving more than 140 civilian deaths – were prosecuted by the U.S. military. Evidence of possible war crimes and unlawful killings has seemingly been ignored,” Bennett said.
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#Afghanistan: No justice for thousands of civilians killed in #US /NATO operations http://t.co/WWqvkHxONb #humanrights
— AmnestyInternational (@AmnestyOnline)
August 11, 2014
