US Continues to Fund Afghan Units Despite Human Rights Abuses

An investigation has revealed that the US military continued to fund Afghan military and police units, using a legal loophole despite knowing of dozens of cases of human rights abuses by the Afghan troops.

Afghan security forces were involved in at least 75 gross violations of human rights from 2010 to 2016, including murder and child sexual assault, according to a report from the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) that was requested by 93 members of Congress last year and declassified on Tuesday.

The report also notes that it was not until September of 2015, when the New York Times reported on allegations that sexual abuse of children by members of Afghan military and police forces was “rampant,” that the U.S. military in Afghanistan provided related training and issued clear guidance that personnel should report suspected child sexual assault.

A U.S. law, dubbed the Leahy law, prohibits the Pentagon and the State Department from providing aid to foreign military or police units if there is credible evidence the units have carried out a gross violation of human rights.

But a clause within the Defense Department’s Appropriations Act allows for an exception to this rule when support to the units is deemed to meet a “national security concern.” Despite evidence that Afghan units committed violations, the Pentagon used this loophole to continue most funding for about a dozen implicated Afghan security force units.

In its report, SIGAR suggests that Congress could eliminate that exception, explaining the Pentagon has used the clause to allow the Secretary of Defense to “forgo implementation of the Leahy Law.”

The Pentagon disagrees.

“The … report does not reflect an understanding of the challenges faced by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in developing and sustaining the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces,” Pentagon official Jedidiah Royal wrote in a response included in the report last year.

According to the report, there were 24 incidents of “bacha bazi” or boy play within the Afghan units, something President Ashraf Ghani has vowed to have no tolerance for. The US units, working with the Afghans are stuck in the middle trying to figure out a way to report these heinous incidents while continuing to try to work with these units.

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