“The detention system in Afghanistan continues to operate outside the rule of law. The United States continues to hold Afghan detainees in legal limbo and in many cases incommunicado, in violation of U.S. obligations under the laws of armed conflict and applicable Afghan law.”

— Brad Adams, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, in an open letter written today to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The letter was also carbon copied to Porter Goss, Director of the CIA.  

Adams accuses the American government of neglecting to sufficiently investigate the allegations of criminal abuse and murder reported to have been perpetrated by American forces in Afghanistan, and states: “Six detainees are now known to have died in U.S. custody in Afghanistan—including four known cases of murder or manslaughter — and former detainees have made scores of other claims of torture and other mistreatment. Some of the cases took place over two years ago. Yet to our knowledge, the U.S. government has conducted only a handful of criminal investigations, and has charged only two people with any crime in these cases.”  

Mimi Hanaoka