The survivors of a NATO night raid against a house party in Afghanistan’s Paktia Province remain up in arms about the slaying of several of their family members, and say that they have rejected US “compensation” payments of $2,000 per person killed.“I don’t want money, I want justice,” noted Haji Sharabuddin, the head of the family. US forces killed five people, including three women, in the raid. One of the men killed was also a key member of local security forces.
The killings have sparked more questions than most of the night raid civilian deaths in Afghanistan, primarily because NATO issued an initial statement claiming they killed “several insurgents” in a firefight and made a “gruesome discovery” of the slain women.
About a month after the raid, NATO was forced to admit that all of the slain people were civilians and that the “firefight” in question didn’t involve any firing from anyone but the NATO forces. The eight “militants” arrested were all released, without charges.
But the real issue at this point is that, other than the “blood money” offered by the US, officials have made no effort to hold anyone responsible for the killings, and officially the US refuses to even identify who was involved in the raid, citing “national and strategic security.”
Ahora la familia ha amenazado a las autoridades que si no rectifican la situación, depurando responsabilidades, iniciarán acciones de venganza e incluso ataques suicidas contra las tropas. Dudo que la mayoría de quienes desprecian los "daños colaterales" como si fuera algo irrelevante o secundario actuaran distinto en las mismas circunstancias.
El Departamento de Estado americano acaba de publicar sendos informes sobre el respeto de los derechos humanos en Afganistán e Irak.
