Murderous Afghan warlord NATO ally

This is a satiric animation on the Afghan war by Mark Fiore from the USA.

Translated from Dutch daily De Pers:

Uruzgan

We are doing business with a murderer

By: Arnold Karskens

Published: yesterday 11:20 p.m.
Update: today 6:33

The Afghan warlord Matiullah Khan, who has links with Dutch soldiers, is suspected of killing dozens of prisoners.

The massacre took place in Shah Wali Kot district in Kandahar province. Among the approximately eighty victims are said to have been 55 residents of Uruzgan province.

This accusation comes from Mohammed Daoud, the district chief of Chora. According to Daoud, who spoke to survivors at his home near Tarin Kowt, men of warlord Matiullah Khan surprised over a month ago a group of men gathered in a shura, a meeting. After a firefight in which five men were killed, the remaining 75 men were tied and then slain with knives. ‘As torture, they were first stabbed in the shoulders and legs. The corpses were infected with chemicals to make them unrecognizable. ‘

More than one hundred

A NATO press release dated June 16 refers to “a blow” that Afghan security forces and ISAF forces dealt to the Taliban in the region, where supposedly ‘more than one hundred insurgents and their leaders’ were killed.

The Netherlands, which presents itself as a defender of human rights in Afghanistan, is working since 2006 with Matiullah Khan, who lives in Tarin Kowt, the former commander of the Highway Police. For some time he was responsible for monitoring the construction of the road between Tarin Kowt and Chora, which was paid for by development money.

Khan’s troops, jointly with Dutch soldiers, are said to have participated in ‘cleansing’ operations in the district of Deh Rawood in September 2007, in which a prisoner was found to have been killed.

Now that the Dutch mission in Uruzgan ends on 1 August, hundreds of his men are protecting the road on which the Dutch military are retreating, De Pers noticed during a trip between Kandahar and Tarin Kowt.

Big player

The commander of Task Force Uruzgan, Brigade General Kees van den Heuvel, denies any link to the warlord whose opponents consider him a ruthless despot and who, despite frequent questions, refused any comment: ‘Matiullah Khan is a big player in this region. I will not deny that. But we do not do business with him.’

A recent report by the U.S. House of Representatives, Warlord Inc., shows that Matiullah Khan as the commander of the two thousand strong ‘Kandak Amniante Uruzgan’ warriors, participates in operations of foreign special forces and earns millions of dollars annually protecting NATO convoys.

Afghan militia trained in Australia. Military chief says fighters loyal to Uruzgan warlord Matiullah Khan got combat training with special forces: here.

Afghan Development Policy: NGOs Refusing Demands for Closer Cooperation With German Army: here.

A survey of over 500 Afghan men in Kandahar and Helmand provinces has found that 70 per cent oppose Nato offensives in their region and 74 per cent believe collaborating with occupation forces is wrong: here.

The appointment of General Sir David Richards as the new head of British armed forces is another signal of a major escalation of hostilities in Afghanistan alongside the United States: here.

An exchange with a reader on “Liberal television host Rachel Maddow solidarizes herself with US military in Afghanistan”: here.

The Afghan women jailed for ‘bad character’: here.

RAWA.org: Corruption in Afghanistan Expanding at an Alarming Rate: here.

The foreign ministers conference in Kabul endorsed President Hamid Karzai’s 2014 target for Afghan forces to assume the lead responsibility for the country’s security, while acknowledging that the foreign occupation will continue indefinitely: here.

Rebuild America or Bomb Afghanistan? War funding questioned in New York Times: here. Speak out to cut war $ here.

A federal watchdog blasted U.S. agencies on Thursday for squandering taxpayer money on facilities in Afghanistan that are too complex and costly for the Afghan government to maintain: here.