28 August 2002
Pentagon Says No Proof Found U.S. Troops Knew of Taliban Deaths
(Reports contend prisoners died in Afghan custody on way to jail)
(660)
Washington -- A Pentagon review has found no evidence that American
troops were aware of the alleged deaths of hundreds of Taliban
prisoners being transported in unventilated freight containers in
northern Afghanistan late last year, the vice chairman of the U.S.
Joint Chiefs of Staff says.
Repeated checks performed under established procedures found "zero
reported cases of human rights violations by the teams that we had on
the ground," Marine General Peter Pace told print journalists at a
briefing at the Pentagon August 26.
The general's comments came in response to questions growing out of
new allegations that hundreds of Taliban fighters who had surrendered
to Northern Alliance troops died en route from Kunduz province to a
jail in the town of Shebarghan, in Jowzjan province. Many of them were
due to be interrogated by U.S. intelligence personnel.
A specific report in the August 26 issue of Newsweek magazine, based
on an extensive investigation, found that American forces were in the
area of the prison when the containers were delivered, though probably
not when they were opened. Though U.S. soldiers "surely heard stories
of deaths in the containers," Newsweek said, they may well "have
thought them exaggerated."
The article stressed that "nothing that Newsweek learned suggests that
American forces had advance knowledge of the killings, witnessed the
prisoners being stuffed into the unventilated trucks or were in a
position to prevent that."
What follows is a transcript -- provided by the Department of Defense
-- of the exchange between journalists and Pace at the Pentagon
briefing.
"Question: Why hasn't the American military done more to help
investigate these latest allegations of atrocities alleged against
Northern Alliance?
"Pace: When our Special Forces teams go into the field they get
immediate pre-deployment training on human rights, and they are
expected to report back on any human rights abuses that they observe,
and they are expected to intervene any time they see something like
that. Then they are debriefed when they come out of the field. So I'm
comfortable that on the U.S. forces side of this, that we have
properly instructed our guys and we have properly debriefed them.
"Q: Why shouldn't the U.S. play a more active role, in support the
investigation?
"Pace: I don't know what the Afghans are going to do as far as their
own investigations are concerned. I am comfortable that we have
scrubbed the U.S. side very carefully. If the Afghan government needs
assistance I'm sure they'll ask and we'll make a proper determination
at that time.
"Q: What do you mean you scrubbed the U.S.? Have you gone back and
looked at the reports, talked to the Special Forces?
"Pace: We have gone back and reviewed all of the reports of the
Special Forces teams, especially with regard to the reports about
atrocities near Shebarghan. We've gone back and reassured ourselves
that in fact all the teams did get the proper training before they
went. And we went back and reassured ourselves that the teams were
debriefed when they came out of the field. In all of that there have
been zero reported cases of human rights violations by the teams that
we had on the ground."
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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