Americ­an offici­als knowin­gly funded abuse inflic­ting police and securi­ty offici­alsWASHINGTON: The US military funded Afghan police and security units even though American officials knew members were implicated in gross human rights violations, according to a watchdog report released Tuesday. For instance, the Pentagon approved waivers to these so-called Leahy Laws to continue funding for 12 Afghan security force units implicated in 14 gross human rights violations in 2013. The same workaround, known as the “notwithstanding clause,” was used for eight of nine additional units implicated in 2014. Although the Defense Department and State Department have “confirmed that some units of the Afghan security forces have committed gross violations of human rights, the secretary of defense has used the notwithstanding clause” to some implicated units, the report states. Members of Congress requested the review in 2015 after The New York Times reported on ‘rampant’ child sex abuse in the Afghan security services and said that US personnel had been told not to intervene.

Source: The Express Tribune January 24, 2018 05:51 UTC