A Swedish human rights organisation has accused US forces of violating humanitarian principles and breaching the civil-military agreement after a charity hospital was raided by troops in Wardak province, Afghanistan, on Wednesday. In a statement issued on Sunday, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA), which operates a hospital in Shaniz, reported that US troops burst into the hospital, without reason or justification, and proceeded to tie up four employees and family members of patients. SCA country director Anders Fänge called the incident ‘a clear violation of globally recognised humanitarian principles about the sanctity of health facilities and staff in areas of conflict... [and] a clear breach of the civil-military agreement' between non-governmental organisations operating in the area and coalition forces.
Although representatives for the NATO-led force in Afghanistan and the United Nations would not comment on the incident, UN spokesman Aleem Siddique reiterated that ‘the rules are that medical facilities are not combat areas. It's unacceptable for a medical facility to become an area of active combat operations.' The SCA expressed concern that ‘when such facilities are no longer regarded with the sanctity which has previously been accorded, then hospitals merely become buildings and a legitimate arena to continue the conflict.'
The toD verdict: SCA's sharp criticism is yet another blow to the international standing of NATO forces in Afghanistan. International forces in Afghanistan are already beset by a severely deteriorating security situation in the country, an as-yet unresolved election process, and the growing realisation that the current strategy is failing to defeat the resilient Taliban insurgents.
The incident also comes at a time when serious questions are being raised about the ability of forces to prevent civilian causalities and protect the Afghan population. On Monday the Taliban called for a United Nations-led investigation into the dozens of civilian casualties caused by Friday's air strike targeting two fuel tankers seized by Taliban insurgents. While the Taliban claims that up to 150 civilians were killed in the Kunduz province raid, the independent Afghanistan Rights Monitor group puts the number at closer to 70. The severity of the challenge to NATO credibility posed by the attack was made clear when General Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, personally visited the site of the attacks on Friday. McChrystal had previously been responsible for restricting the circumstances in which air strikes, which are responsible for almost all civilian deaths at the hands of coalition forces in Afghanistan, are employed.
The tragedy of civilian deaths has also provoked a rift between US and German troops, which were responsible for ordering the attacks, as members of both forces attempt to shift the blame for the incident. German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung maintains that the Taliban's possession of the tankers ‘posed an acute threat to our soldiers'. New guidelines for air strikes, brought in shortly after McChrystal's assumption of the post in June, bring into question whether the attack was legitimately justified: the rules permit air strikes only in the event where it is necessary to prevent Western troops from being overrun or where imminent danger is present.
Whether the strike was warranted will now be the subject of an investigation by the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, which reported that it would also attempt to confirm exactly how man civilians were killed by the attack. A separate UN report, released in July, indicated that the number of civilians killed in the conflict in Afghanistan has risen by 24% in 2009. Alarmingly, 30.5% of the 1,013 civilian deaths in the first half of 2009 were due to attacks by foreign and Afghan government forces.
Israel approves settlement expansion
Palestine has accused Israel of derailing negotiations for a peace agreement between the countries by authorising the building of 455 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli defence ministry announced on Monday that Defence Minister Ehud Barak had officially approved the new settlements, which are to be erected in areas that Israel intends to keep in the event of any future peace deal with Palestine. Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the decision to approve the new settlements means that Israel's status as a credible partner for peace has been further undermined.
The settlements, which are the first new plans to be permitted since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in March, are suspected to be an attempt to pre-empt a likely moratorium on all settlement construction backed by th US and other members of the international community, and may be intended to mollify pro-settlement elements of the government. It is thought that Netanyahu may in fact bow to US pressure to suspend all settlements at a meeting with US envoy George Mitchell later in the week, before a potential conference at the UN General Assembly in late September.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has demanded a settlement freeze as a nonnegotiable condition for the return to peace negotiations. According to Erekat, Israel's latest decision to authorise new settlements may nullify any positive legacy a settlement freeze would have had.
Iran proposes global talks on peaceful use of nuclear energy
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has defended Iran's ‘undeniable right' to produce nuclear energy and suggested holding talks with global powers on the issue. In the lead up to a US-imposed deadline for the halt of uranium enrichment in Iran, and prior to next week's International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna, Ahmadinejad has declared debate on the issue ‘finished', stating that he will ‘never negotiate over the undeniable rights of the Iranian nation.' Ahmadinejad invited US President Barack Obama to discuss the issue via public debate during the UN General Assembly in New York, later in the month.
UK PM to support families demanding compensation from Libya
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that the UK will support families of those killed by Libya-supplied IRA explosives in making claims for compensation. Brown has refused to put formal pressure on Libya by supporting a government-led case for compensation, but has agreed to establish a dedicated Foreign Office team to assist the families of those killed by explosives provided to the IRA by Libya. Meanwhile, Colonel Gaddafi's son has stated that Libya will resist any such demands for compensation, and that the matter will not be resolved without the involvement of the courts.