Afghanistan Still Torturing Detainees, According To New UN Report

Afghanistan is still torturing its detainees, according to a new report released by the United Nations on Sunday.

The report adds that almost one third of all detainees transferred to Afghan control recently have been tortured. The country’s spy agency is also apparently operating secret facilities to avoid scrutiny from the international community.

Reuters reports that the UN report’s findings could serve to complicate an already delicate situation. NATO is still looking at how best to manage the security transition ahead of NATO troop withdrawals next year.

Hundreds of detainees will be transferred from NATO to Afghan control as part of that transition.

The UN’s 139-page report was based off of interviews with hundreds of Afghanistan detainees between October 2011 and October 2012. The report found what the UN calls “credible and reliable evidence” that more than half of the people interviewed experienced torture or abuse.

The Huffington Post notes that torture of Afghan detainees includes hanging them by their wrists and beating them with cables.

The report shows that there has been little progress in stopping abuse in Afghan prisons. The UN and international military forces in Afghanistan have spent more than a year to stop it.

The report, along with slow progress on prison reform has caused NATO forces to stop several planned transfers of Afghan detainees. The transfers have stopped, because NATO forces worry that the detainees may be tortured by Afghan authorities.

The Afghan government responded to the latest UN report. The letter read that the government’s international monitoring committee found that “the allegations of torture of detainees were untrue and thus disproved.”

The government added that it would not rule out the possibility of torture at its prisons, but that it was nowhere near as bad as the report has the international community believe. It will also be checking on reports of abuse.

Do you think that the report on the continued torture of Afghan detainees should delay NATO from withdrawing troops from Afghanistan?