Puna: Truthout
President Joe Biden’s decision to end the Afghan war – one that should never have been fought in the first place — was correct. Missing from the national discourse, however, is analysis of the illegality of the 2001 U.S.-led NATO invasion of Afghanistan (dubbed “Operation Enduring Freedom”) and resulting war crimes committed by four U.S. presidents and their top officials and lawyers. Once again, the United States has lost a war it started illegally. But as U.S. troops leave Afghanistan, the Biden administration continues to kill — and promises to persist in killing — Afghan people.
E rua tekau nga tau o te pakanga me te noho a Amerika ki Afghanistan te utu i te iti iho o te $ 2.26 trillion a ka puta te mate of more than 2,300 Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan civilians. The “war on terror” George W. Bush launched with his “Operation Enduring Freedom” has included the torture and abuse of untold numbers people in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantánamo and the CIA black sites. It has i kaha ake te mahi whakatumatuma taha matau i roto i te United States me te whakarato i te take mo te te tirotiro i nga waahi katoa of Muslims and those who dissent against government policy. And whistleblowers who expose U.S. war crimes have been rewarded with whakawakanga i raro i te Ture Tutei me nga whiunga roa ki te whare herehere. Kaua tatou e wareware ki te kore ture, te mate me te whakangaromanga i puta mai i te pakanga i Afghanistan i roto i nga tekau tau, kei hoki ano o tatou he.
The U.S.-Led NATO Invasion of Afghanistan Was Illegal
Like the U.S. wars in Vietnam and Iraq, Bush’s invasion of Afghanistan was unlawful and led to the commission of torture and targeting of civilians, which constitute war crimes. All three of those wars caused the deaths of thousands — even millions — of people, cost trillions of U.S. taxpayer dollars, and devastated the countries of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Bush administration began bombing Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, less than one month after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. As I faataa at the time, the U.S.-led NATO invasion of Afghanistan violated the United Nations Charter, which does not permit the use of military force for retaliation. The Charter mandates that countries settle their disputes peacefully using diplomatic means. But the United States repeatedly rejected diplomatic attempts at peaceful resolution.
I te Oketopa 15, 2001, te Washington Post korerotia, “President Bush rejected an offer from Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban to turn over suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden to a neutral third country yesterday as an eighth day of bombing made clear that military coercion, not diplomacy, remains the crux of U.S. policy toward the regime.”
I tua atu, i te mutunga o Whiringa-a-rangi 2001, ka whakatata atu te rangatira o Taliban a Mullah Omar ki a Hamid Karzai, i muri tata nei ka noho hei perehitini mo te wa poto o Afghanistan, ki te whiriwhiri i tetahi mahi rongomau. I paopao te US ki tera kaupapa. "Kaore te United States e pai ki te whiriwhiri i nga tuku tuku," Ko te Hekeretari o te Tiaki a Donald H. Rumsfeld te korero. I kii ano ia kaore te US i pai ki te wehe atu i a Mullah Omar ki te ora i Afghanistan. Ko te hiahia o Amerika kia hopukina ia, kia patua ranei.
E ai ki te Tūtohinga ka taea e tetahi whenua te whakamahi i te kaha hoia i te wa e mahi ana mo te tiaki i a ia ano, ma te whakaaetanga ranei a te UN Security Council. Kaore tetahi o enei whakaritenga i mua i mua i te whakaekenga o te United States ki Afghanistan (ranei Vietnam or Iraq mo tera take).
In order to constitute lawful self-defense, an act of war must respond to an armed attack by another state. According to the Charter, the need for self-defense must be “instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation,” under the well-established Karaina Take. This bedrock principle of self-defense in international law has been affirmed by the Nuremberg Tribunal, which was conducted in 1945 to 1946 to investigate and prosecute Nazi war criminals, and the UN General Assembly.
The bombing of Afghanistan was not legitimate self-defense under the Charter because Afghanistan did not attack the United States on September 11, 2001. The 9/11 attacks were crimes against humanity, not armed attacks by another state. The hijackers were not even Afghans; 15 of the 19 men came from Saudi Arabia. Moreover, there was not an imminent threat of an armed attack on the U.S. after September 11, or the United States would not have waited nearly a month before initiating its bombing campaign.
Ko te whakaaro o Bush mo te whakaeke i a Afghanistan ko te whakamau i a Osama bin Laden me te whakangungu i nga kaiwhakatuma, ahakoa kaore a bin Laden i kii i te kawenga mo nga whakaeke 9/11 tae noa ki te tau 2004. Ka tono a Bush kia huri nga Taliban i a bin Laden ki te United States. I kii te karere a te Taliban ki Pakistan e hiahia ana tana kawanatanga ki nga taunakitanga i uru a bin Laden ki nga whakaekenga 9/11 i mua i te whakatau ka tukuna atu ia. Kaore i tae mai taua tohu na reira kaore nga Taliban i tuku i a bin Laden. I timata a Bush ki te poma ki Afghanistan.
Ahakoa kua paahitia e te Kaunihera Haumarutanga nga Whakatau 1368 a 1373, karekau hoki i whakamanahia te whakamahi kaha i Afghanistan. Ko aua whakataunga i whakahe i nga whakaeke 9/11; i whakahau kia whakatio nga rawa; mahi kaiwhakatuma hara; i whakahau te aukati i nga whakaeke kaiwhakatuma me te tango i nga huarahi e tika ana hei aukati i te mahi whakatumatuma, tae atu ki te tohatoha korero; me te tohe kia whakamanahia me te whakamana nga tikanga o te ao ki te whakawetiweti.
Ko te kore o te US ki te u ki te kaupapa maha - te kokonga o te ture o te ao i te ngakau o te UN Charter - ko te tino hapa o te kaupapa here a Amerika i Afghanistan.
I te mea kare ano te Ture Roma mo te Kooti Whakawa Whenua o te Ao i whai mana tae noa ki te tau 2002, ko nga hara ki te tangata i mahia i te 9/11 me hamenehia i roto i nga kooti a-whare i raro i te ture. ko te whakaakoranga kua pumau mo te mana whakahaere o te ao, which allows countries to prosecute foreign nationals for the most heinous of crimes. And the Security Council could have established a special tribunal for the 9/11 attacks, like it did in Yugoslavia and Rwanda. But the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan was illegal.
The Commission of War Crimes
Ko te whakaekenga ture me te noho o Afghanistan me te hua o te "pakanga i runga i te wehi" i arahina ki te mahi hara whawhai, tae atu ki te whakamamae me te aro ki nga tangata maori.
Na te whakahaerenga a Bush i whakatakoto he kaupapa nui mo te whakamamae me te tukino. He ripoata 2014 a te Komiti Whiriwhiri a te Senate mo te Maramatanga documented the use of waterboarding, which constitutes torture, and other “enhanced interrogation techniques.” Detainees were slammed into walls; hung from the ceiling; kept in total darkness; deprived of sleep, sometimes with forced standing, for up to seven and one-half days; forced to stand on broken limbs for hours on end; threatened with mock execution; confined in a coffin-like box for 11 days; bathed in ice water and dressed in diapers.
I te Poutu-te-rangi 5, 2020, i kii te International Criminal Court (ICC) kia tirotirohia nga rangatira o te US, Afghan me Taliban mo nga hara whawhai, tae atu ki te whakamamae, i mahia i roto i te "pakanga ki te wehi." I kitea e te kaiwhiu a te ICC nga take tika ki te whakapono, i runga i te kaupapa here a Amerika, nga mema o te I mahi a CIA i nga hara whawhai. I roto i a raatau ko te whakamamae me te tukino kino, me te riri mo te mana o te tangata, te pawhera me etahi atu momo tutu mo te moepuku ki nga tangata e mau ana i roto i nga whare herehere i Afghanistan, Poland, Romania me Lithuania.
I te wa o te whakahaere a Obama, ko nga mauhere i mau i Guantánamo whangai kaha, e rite ana ki te whakamamae. Ko Obama te whakamahi drones ki te patu tangata i nga whenua rereke e whitu i takahia te UN Charter me nga Geneva Conventions.
I whakahaerehia e Donald Trump nga patu rererangi i Iraq me Hiria e i patu te maha o nga tangata maori, he takahi ano hoki i te UN Charter me nga Geneva Conventions.
The Biden Administration Continues the Killing as It Pulls Out of Afghanistan
I te whakaotinga o Biden i te unuhanga o nga hoia mai i Afghanistan, kei te patu tonu tana whakahaere i nga tangata o reira.
On Thursday August 26, Islamic State Khorasan (or ISIS-K) detonated a suicide bomb outside the Kabul airport. As many as 170 civilians and 13 U.S. service members were killed. BBC ko te kairipoata a Secunder Kermani i kii nga kitenga nana i kii he nui te hunga i mate i pupuhihia e nga hoia o Amerika "i roto i te mataku i muri i te pupuhi." Ae ra, te New York Times korerotia e I whakaae nga rangatira o Pentagon "Ko etahi o nga tangata i mate i waho o te taunga rererangi i te Rapare i pupuhihia e nga mema o nga ratonga Amerika i muri i te poma whakamomori."
Nevertheless, on August 27, I utu a Biden me te patu drone Ko te ahua i mate "he mahere ISIS-K," ahakoa "karekau he taunakitanga mo tenei wa i uru atu ia ki te poma whakamomori tata ki te taunga rererangi i te Rapare." I tukuna e te US Central Command tetahi korero e kii ana, "E mohio ana matou kaore he tangata i mate” mai i te patu haruru a te US. Engari e ai ki te Guardian, ua faaite te hoê matahiapo i Jalalabad i te reira e toru nga tangata maori i mate, tokowha i whara i roto i te patu drone US.
On August 27, the United Nations Security Council issued he tuku tuku affirming that “all parties must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law in all circumstances, including those related to the protection of civilians.” The Council stated that “any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.” Moreover, the Council “reaffirmed the need for all States to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other obligations under international law . . . threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.”
Nonetheless, on August 29, Biden launched he patu haruru against suspected members of ISIS-K, blowing up a vehicle apparently containing explosives. The Central Command did not know whether the strike caused civilian casualties, calling the attack “a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul.”
Kua oati te whakahaere a Biden ki te whakahaere Ko nga mahi "i runga i te pae" i Afghanistan. Kei te whakamahere te US ki te aro turuki i nga whakamataku whakamataku me te tirotiro me te patu i nga hau mai i tua atu o nga rohe o Afghanistan, otira ki te Persian Gulf. Engari e ai ki te Kaunihera Haumarutanga, he kawenga ture nga whenua katoa ki te whai i nga ture o te ao.
Me tino aukati te United States ki te whakamahi i te ope taua i Afghanistan. Hei Tumuaki a Sara Jacobs (D-California) ka mea, “kare e taea e te whakautu te whawhai me te tutu. Ko te whakautu kaore e taea te whakarewa ake i nga mahi whakawetiweti kore whai hua me te kore e taea." I kii ano a Jacobs ko te United States "he nama ki te hunga katoa i mate ki te kore e mahi i aua he" tata ki te 20 tau ki muri i muri i nga whakaekenga o te 11 o Hepetema.
Ko te putea a ZNetwork na te atawhai o ana kaipānui.
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