KABUL - Afghan forces, international troops and Taliban insurgents need to do more to avoid civilian casualties or many more innocents will be killed in the ongoing conflict, a U.N. rights expert said on Thursday.U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions ...
| ... they have titles like that? ... |
| Thanks Phil. Say, any thoughts about asking the Taliban to be more careful when they terrorize civilians? |
Alston called for more accountability from the more than 50,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, who together with Afghan government troops are engaged in daily battles with a resurgent Taliban mainly in the south and east of the country. While he said he had found no evidence of intentional killing by foreign troops and particular cases were investigated at considerable length, no international force was able or willing to provide information on numbers of civilians killed, the results of investigations or whether anyone had been punished.
| Because we don't want to do body counts. One reason why is people like you ... |
"This is a very major political issue because the support of both the people of Afghanistan and the international community is dependant upon a sense that the international forces are doing what they think the people of Afghanistan should be doing; being held to account," Alston said.
The problem of accountability, he said, was exacerbated by the operations of forces who were not accountable to any military but appeared to be controlled by foreign intelligence services.
Alston said the Afghan police should be better trained, equipped, and monitored and called for an end to corruption within the force and the impunity that the police generally enjoy after they have been accused of killing civilians. Corruption was also rife in the judicial process, Alston said, calling for a moratorium on the death penalty: "The judicial process is not of a sufficient standard to ensure that any of those executed have been afforded due process."
Some 95 percent of those killed by the Taliban were innocent civilians, Alston said, but while this was a "disaster", rights activists should seek to engage the insurgents.
| Well, at least he considers it a 'disaster'. That's more than we usually get. |
| ... sure, and having a UN special wrapper talking with the Talibunnies offers them no legitimacy at all, nope, nope .... |
| We're doing that, thankyouverymuch, by killing the Talibunnies. We'll let you know if we need your help, 'k? |