US Army to Investigate Afghan’s Evidence Troops Murdered Civilians

Officials Had Previously Dismissed Allegations as False

Months after loudly dismissing the allegations of Wardak civilians that US Special Forces have been kidnapping, torturing and killing them, the US Army has announced that it has begun a new investigation into the claim under orders from Gen. Dunford, the commander for troops in occupied Afghanistan.

Afghan officials loudly demanded the US withdraw from Wardak Province over the allegations in February, but quickly dropped the demand when NATO insisted the allegations were false.

The issue didn’t die down, however, as civilian bodies kept being found outside the US base and a tape eventually emerged showing the torture of a local civilian, whose body was later found in a ditch near the base.

Even that was shrugged off by US officials, however, until the Afghan government managed to capture the US translator, Zakeria Kandahari, and he confessed that he was acting “on orders” from US commanders. The US has confirmed the authenticity of the Kandahari tape, but insisted that they didn’t know anything about the civilian shown in the video.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.