Ia adalah kisah serangan yang tidak pernah berlaku sebelum ini ke atas orang awam Afghanistan, dan ia tidak diceritakan.

 

On the afternoon of August 16, 2007 a unit of Polish soldiers operating under NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Paktika Province approached a small Afghan village. Known as Delta platoon, the patrol had come to the village, called Nangar Khel, in reponse to a Taliban IED attack on American forces early that morning in the same area.  

 

Apa yang berlaku seterusnya masih belum jelas dan menunggu perbicaraan akan datang, tetapi dalam perbicaraan awal para pegawai telah mengakui bahawa tentera NATO Poland ini membunuh enam orang awam dan mencederakan tiga lagi dalam tembakan mortar dan mesingan. Mangsa, yang dilaporkan mengambil bahagian dalam majlis perkahwinan, termasuk beberapa wanita dan kanak-kanak. 

 

Tidak lama selepas kejadian itu, jabatan perhubungan awam ISAF mengumumkan bahawa beberapa orang awam telah terbunuh dalam pertempuran antara tentera NATO dan pemberontak Taliban. Seperti biasa untuk siaran akhbar NATO, notis itu tidak menamakan kewarganegaraan tentera asing yang terlibat. Walau bagaimanapun, yang jarang berlaku, ISAF tidak menyatakan sama ada tentera NATO atau Taliban yang telah membunuh orang awam. Walaupun beberapa agensi berita membawa laporan ringkas yang menyampaikan fakta, ini tidak diambil dan kejadian itu pada dasarnya tidak diendahkan oleh media bahasa Inggeris utama. Bagaimanapun, tidak lama kemudian, Poland telah dimaklumkan tentang fakta bahawa askar yang terlibat adalah dari Tentera Darat Poland. Tetapi kelewatan dalam pengumuman rasmi, yang dibuat kira-kira enam hari selepas kejadian itu, menyebabkan tuduhan meluas bahawa Menteri Pertahanan Poland menyembunyikan sesuatu. Malah, dua bekas Menteri Pertahanan, dari kedua-dua hujung spektrum politik Poland, secara terbuka menuduh Menteri Aleksander Szczyglo cuba menyembunyikan butiran kejadian itu. 

 

Tindakan membalas dendam? 

 

In fact Szczyglo was hiding something, for on August 20, he had received a military counterintelligence assessment of the incident which must have stunned him. The report said that there had not been any insurgents present during the firing and that the village may have been attacked by the Polish soldiers in an act of revenge for the death of a colleague. Some two days before the Nangar Khel incident, a Polish soldier in an adjacent province had been killed in a Taliban ambush, thus becoming the first Pole to die in NATO’s Afghanistan war. The residents of Nangar Khel, for their part, were reportedly thought to secretly support Taliban insurgents. Rather than revealing these growing concerns, Szczyglo told reporters that the Polish troops had captured an important terrorist while battling with Taliban fighters that day. Meanwhile, the report of misdeeds was passed on to military police officials. 

 

Delta platoon were operating in the Wazi Khwa district of Afghanistan’s southeastern Paktika Province where they shared a base with American troops. The Polish NATO contingent, working amid flat, dry and dusty valleys hemmed in by low mountains, were no strangers to morale problems. Just two months before the Nangar Khel event, eleven Polish commandoes stationed at Wazi Khwa had demanded to be sent home early to Poland rather than continue to operate with the dangerously unsafe equipment provided them. While the rebellious soldiers did not get their way, they were celebrated by the ranks, a significant portion of whom are conscripts. 

 

Apabila berita tentang apa yang berlaku di luar wayar diketahui secara meluas di pangkalan, semangat setiakawan telah hancur. Barometer pendapat umum yang sering disebut itu, dinding tandas, memberitahu tentang rasa jijik yang dirasai oleh askar lain: "Delta harus berada di belakang bar - pembunuh kanak-kanak," baca grafiti bilik mandi. 

 

Back in Poland, government officials announced that an investigation had begun into the nature of the incident, which was still largely a mystery to most Poles. But the investigation did not appear to bear fruit until after national elections which saw the incumbents ousted, including Defense Minister Szczyglo. 

 

Penangkapan dan cerita penutup 

 

On November 13, as Poland’s newly elected government was entering office, seven soldiers were arrested.* News photographers captured images of masked teams of SWAT-style military police hauling away hooded and handcuffed suspects. The following day, military prosecutors announced criminal charges for some members of Delta platoon. Two privates, a sergeant, a warrant officer, a lieutenant and a captain were charged with murder of civilians under circumstances of war or occupation, while one private was charged with attacking civilian objects. The prosecutor stated that the crimes for which they are charged constitute violations of the Hague Conventions of 1907 and the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and carry jail sentences of twelve years to life for the murder charges and five to 25 years for the lesser charge. 

 

Semasa disoal siasat, beberapa tertuduh menarik balik cerita yang mereka berikan kepada penyiasat sebelum ini. Tentera berpangkat rendah kini mendakwa bahawa mereka telah menerima arahan untuk menembak tiga kampung yang berbeza dan bahawa mereka telah menerima arahan ini sebelum meninggalkan pangkalan Wazi Khwa. Ini adalah tuduhan yang dilemparkan oleh pembantu pegawai pemerintah platun. Pegawai Waran Andrzej O., pembantu kepada Leftenan Muda Lukasz B., berkata beliau hadir pada mesyuarat di mana platun itu diarah menyerang Nangar Khel dan dua kampung berdekatan. Leftenan Lukasz B. hadir untuk mesyuarat itu, menurut pembantunya. 

 

Tertuduh menyatakan bahawa mereka tidak menolak untuk melaksanakan perintah mereka walaupun selepas mereka melihat orang awam hadir di Nangar Khel. Mereka juga menceritakan kisah muka depan yang dibuat oleh komander mereka untuk mengelakkan kebenaran daripada terbongkar. Menurut salah seorang tertuduh, komander Poland Jeneral Marek Tomaszycki bertemu dengan tertuduh di pangkalan Wazi Khwa hanya beberapa hari selepas kejadian dan memujuk askar untuk mendiamkan kejadian itu: "Dia berkata bahawa kita tidak sepatutnya membincangkannya sama sekali, bantu setiap orang. yang lain dan perhatikan satu sama lain supaya tiada siapa yang membunuh diri, kerana kemudian semuanya akan keluar," dakwa askar itu. Jeneral itu menafikan dakwaan itu. 

 

Akhbar Poland juga melaporkan mengenai keterangan bocor bahawa platun Delta bukanlah satu-satunya unit yang diberi arahan untuk menyerang. Satu lagi platun dilaporkan telah diberi arahan sebelum ini tetapi enggan melaksanakannya kerana mereka menyedari bahawa orang awam akan terancam. 

 

Walaupun bukti fizikal dirahsiakan, ia telah dilaporkan secara meluas dalam akhbar Poland bahawa rakaman video serangan ke atas kampung itu adalah antara bukti tersebut. Kononnya, video itu menunjukkan tentera memasuki Nangar Khel, walaupun sebelum ini mendakwa bahawa tentera tidak memasuki kampung pada bila-bila masa. Mengaitkan perkara yang ditunjukkan oleh video seterusnya, satu akaun kewartawanan mengaitkan sentimen orang yang telah melihat video itu: "Tingkah laku yang tidak sesuai dengan seorang askar," adalah penilaian mereka. 

 

Penglibatan Amerika? 

 

While the arrests of the accused soldiers sparked a media frenzy in Poland, the issue has been almost completely ignored outside the country. This ommission is especially glaring in the case of the American media, as it is the US who are in nominal command of NATO forces in Paktika. And indeed, the relationship between the Polish and American forces goes deeper than that. Stanislaw Koziej, a retired Major-General in the Polish army and former deputy minister of defense, writes that Polish troops in Afghanistan are more closely placed under American command than they are in Iraq. "The incorporation of the small combat sub-units into the American structures was not advantageous." The reason for this, he continues, is that "integration with the lowest ranks of the US structures naturally forces our soldiers to use the American tactical doctrine," which he says contrasts with the situation in Iraq, where some 1200 Polish soldiers operate with more independence. 

 

With this structure of command as background, the lack of attention from the US press is telling. Apart from very brief notices in three American papers (New York Times, LA Times, New York Newsday) taken from a November 15 Associated Press dispatch, American press coverage has amounted to one article in the New York Times on November 29. The article, by Berlin bureau chief Nicholas Kulish, generally promotes the view that the Polish soldiers attacked the civilians by accident. This despite the fact that Poland‘s leading daily newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza, had already revealed testimony from colleagues of the arrested soldiers who saw several of the accused deliberately firing on civilian targets. Kulish’s 900 word article, reprinted in the International Herald Tribune, represents the only English language coverage I could find apart from mention of the case in a Financial Times opinion piece authored by an American defense analyst (Dec 7). (Canadian print media coverage has been precisely zero.) 

 

"Up to this point," wrote Kulish in his Times piece, "there has been no suggestion of American involvement in the civilian deaths." Before long, however, allegations were flying in Poland that the order to attack the villages came from American commanders. So said the wives of two suspects when interviewed on national television. Their accusations reportedly received support from both ex-Defense Minister Szczyglo and current Defense Minister Bogden Klich but other Polish observers dismissed it out of hand. However, the American media, along with the non-Polish press generally, has reported no more on the case. This despite an excellent Inter Press Service piece by Zoltán Dujisin on December 27. Sadly, that piece was scarcely picked up, even by major leftist websites. 

 

Perbicaraan memberitahu rutin kematian orang awam 

 

The Polish military prosecutors held preliminary hearings on the case, bringing in various military and government officials including at least one American army major who sought to calm Polish nerves. The killing of numerous civilians at Nangar Khel, he said, is "something unfortunate, but not of great significance". He stressed the triviality of the event, saying "I don’t understand why an unimportant incident has gained such great significance in your country. Why so much attention? Civilian deaths occur every week, because Afghanistan is no Sunday school." 

 

Seorang pegawai pasukan khas Poland juga memberitahu perbicaraan bahawa pembunuhan itu bukan kejadian: "Mencederakan orang awam adalah sesuatu yang boleh berlaku kepada mana-mana askar." Dia menambah bahawa "Rakyat Amerika mengalami kejadian yang sama walaupun sekali seminggu. [Bagaimanapun,] majoriti besar kes sedemikian berpunca daripada tinjauan udara yang lemah." 

 

Tertuduh tentera yang menembak senjata telah mendakwa bahawa mereka tidak mengikut arahan mereka untuk menembak Nangar Khel. Sebaliknya, askar mendakwa mereka membidik berhampiran kampung, tetapi senjata mereka salah tembak, memukul orang awam selepas semua. Namun menentang versi peristiwa ini adalah keterangan beberapa rakan tentera yang beroperasi bersama tertuduh. Salah seorang daripada mereka, seorang sarjan, memberitahu mahkamah bahawa dia bercakap dengan salah seorang prebet yang tertuduh semasa dia membedil Nangar Khel. "Ditanya mengapa [tertuduh tentera] menembak sebuah kampung di mana orang awam hadir, dia mengesahkan dia telah diarahkan berbuat demikian." 

 

Berikutan perbicaraan itu, mahkamah Poland memutuskan untuk mengekalkan tertuduh dalam tahanan sementara mereka menunggu perbicaraan, memetik "kebarangkalian besar bahawa mereka bersalah seperti yang didakwa". Walau bagaimanapun, sesetengah pihak bimbang bahawa perbicaraan yang adil tidak mungkin dilakukan kerana beberapa pegawai telah mencemarkan pendapat umum mengenai perkara itu. Dalam detik tanpa kawalan pada bulan Februari, bekas Menteri Pertahanan Szczyglo membentak seorang wartawan: "Tolong jangan beritahu saya bahawa saya dalam apa cara sekalipun bertanggungjawab ke atas sekumpulan orang bodoh menembak orang awam." 

 

* Suspek dinamakan sebagai: Kapten Olgierd C., Lt. Kedua ?kasz B., Ensign Andrzej O., Platun Sgt. Tomasz B. dan swasta kelas pertama Damian L., Robert B. dan Jacek J. (Undang-undang Poland melarang penerbitan nama penuh suspek.) 

 

Nota mengenai sumber: sepanjang masa, saya menggunakan laporan media Poland yang diterjemahkan oleh BBC Worldwide Monitoring dan tersedia melalui pangkalan data Lexis-Nexis. 

 

Dave Markland is a peace activist, writer and researcher based in Vancouver. He edits a blog on Canada‘s war in Afghanistan: www.stopwarblog.blogspot.com.

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