Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > ISIS 2.0: Meet the New Extremist Group the CIA is Paying to Kill
Innocent Civilians in Afghanistan
________________________________________
ISIS 2.0: Meet the New Extremist Group the CIA is Paying to Kill Innocent
Civilians in Afghanistan
By Justin Gardner [1] / The Free Thought Project [2]
December 5, 2015
While American bureaucrats claim that heavy interventions in the Middle East
are somehow beneficial for the increasingly volatile region, the US military
continues its decades-old tradition of creating more terrorists than it
kills.
In the 1980s the CIA armed and trained mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan
during America's cold war with Russia, and these Islamic militants went on
to become al-Qaida, the premier terror threat to the US.
Several years ago, the Pentagon began supporting opposition forces in Syria,
including a group known as the Salafists, to further the US goal of taking
out the Assad government. The Pentagon expressed its desire [3] for Islamic
militants to establish a "declared or undeclared Salafist principality in
eastern Syria." These violent fundamentalists morphed into ISIS, the current
terror group spreading death and fear in the region and now across the
world.
Back in Afghanistan, amid talk of US military "drawdowns," the American
military has nurtured one Afghan paramilitary group [4] that is being
accused of "civilian killings, torture, questionable detentions, arbitrary
arrests and use of excessive force in controversial night raids."
The Khost Protection Force (KPF) is a highly secretive collection of local
Afghans used to fight a shadow war in eastern Afghanistan, near the
Pakistani tribal region and Taliban stronghold. They were lured into the
proxy service of the CIA with promises of better pay, equipment and
conditions than the Afghan army. And just like the CIA, they enjoy virtual
immunity.
"In Khost, the KPF is more influential than the Afghan army and police, and
unaccountable to the provincial government, often acting outside normal
chains of command. Locally, militias such as the KPF are called "campaign
forces," an informal name Afghans use for pro-government armed groups."
The Washington Post [4] interviewed "witnesses of six separate attacks by
the militia in the past year, as well as court documents in the only known
legal case filed against the unit, after one or more of its men shot dead a
14-year-old boy. Three former commanders of the unit, known as the KPF,
tribal elders, lawmakers, lawyers, activists and local government officials
with direct knowledge of the force and the CIA's role were also
interviewed."
One man described how the KPF shot his father dead as he opened the gate to
their home, then threw a grenade inside which killed his mother. The farmer
and housewife were supposedly mistaken for others who were suspected of
trafficking guns.
Several other accounts tell of "English being spoken by armed men who had
translators with them, suggesting American operatives were present during
assaults where extreme force was used."
According to sources, the CIA still directs KPF operations, pays salaries,
and provides training and equipment. CIA operatives will travel with the KPF
during raids, ready to call in warplane or drone strikes.
While US and Afghan spokespersons praise the KPF as being essential to the
fight against the Taliban, local residents are growing more outraged by the
killings of their friends and family by US proxy fighters. Hundreds
protested last month in the streets of Khost City, marching toward Camp
Chapman with the bodies of two civilians killed by the KPF.
"Death to Americans," they chanted. "Death to American slaves."
The juggernaut of US imperialism continues unabated in the Middle East.
Funding and arming paramilitary forces is an essential part of the strategy
to maintain control of the region, yet it simultaneously breeds the hatred
that fuels terrorism. However, this plays right into the hands of puppet
masters and the military-industrial complex, for it guarantees the continued
existence of a boogeyman, which perpetuates the necessary fear in the
populace while feeding the profits of those making bombs and bullets [5].
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Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [6]
[7]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/world/isis-20-meet-new-extremist-group-cia-paying-ki
ll-innocent-civilians-afghanistan
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/justin-gardner
[2] http://thefreethoughtproject.com/
[3]
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/4-minutes-cbs-news-anchor-explains-created-
isis/
[4]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/cia-backed-afghan-militias-fight-a-shad
ow-war/2015/12/02/fe5a0526-913f-11e5-befa-99ceebcbb272_story.html
[5]
https://theintercept.com/2015/12/04/defense-contractors-cite-benefits-of-esc
alating-conflicts-in-the-middle-east/
[6] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on ISIS 2.0: Meet the New
Extremist Group the CIA is Paying to Kill Innocent Civilians in Afghanistan
[7] http://www.alternet.org/
[8] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > ISIS 2.0: Meet the New Extremist Group the CIA is Paying to Kill
Innocent Civilians in Afghanistan
ISIS 2.0: Meet the New Extremist Group the CIA is Paying to Kill Innocent
Civilians in Afghanistan
By Justin Gardner [1] / The Free Thought Project [2]
December 5, 2015
While American bureaucrats claim that heavy interventions in the Middle East
are somehow beneficial for the increasingly volatile region, the US military
continues its decades-old tradition of creating more terrorists than it
kills.
In the 1980s the CIA armed and trained mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan
during America's cold war with Russia, and these Islamic militants went on
to become al-Qaida, the premier terror threat to the US.
Several years ago, the Pentagon began supporting opposition forces in Syria,
including a group known as the Salafists, to further the US goal of taking
out the Assad government. The Pentagon expressed its desire [3] for Islamic
militants to establish a "declared or undeclared Salafist principality in
eastern Syria." These violent fundamentalists morphed into ISIS, the current
terror group spreading death and fear in the region and now across the
world.
Back in Afghanistan, amid talk of US military "drawdowns," the American
military has nurtured one Afghan paramilitary group [4] that is being
accused of "civilian killings, torture, questionable detentions, arbitrary
arrests and use of excessive force in controversial night raids."
The Khost Protection Force (KPF) is a highly secretive collection of local
Afghans used to fight a shadow war in eastern Afghanistan, near the
Pakistani tribal region and Taliban stronghold. They were lured into the
proxy service of the CIA with promises of better pay, equipment and
conditions than the Afghan army. And just like the CIA, they enjoy virtual
immunity.
"In Khost, the KPF is more influential than the Afghan army and police, and
unaccountable to the provincial government, often acting outside normal
chains of command. Locally, militias such as the KPF are called "campaign
forces," an informal name Afghans use for pro-government armed groups."
The Washington Post [4] interviewed "witnesses of six separate attacks by
the militia in the past year, as well as court documents in the only known
legal case filed against the unit, after one or more of its men shot dead a
14-year-old boy. Three former commanders of the unit, known as the KPF,
tribal elders, lawmakers, lawyers, activists and local government officials
with direct knowledge of the force and the CIA's role were also
interviewed."
One man described how the KPF shot his father dead as he opened the gate to
their home, then threw a grenade inside which killed his mother. The farmer
and housewife were supposedly mistaken for others who were suspected of
trafficking guns.
Several other accounts tell of "English being spoken by armed men who had
translators with them, suggesting American operatives were present during
assaults where extreme force was used."
According to sources, the CIA still directs KPF operations, pays salaries,
and provides training and equipment. CIA operatives will travel with the KPF
during raids, ready to call in warplane or drone strikes.
While US and Afghan spokespersons praise the KPF as being essential to the
fight against the Taliban, local residents are growing more outraged by the
killings of their friends and family by US proxy fighters. Hundreds
protested last month in the streets of Khost City, marching toward Camp
Chapman with the bodies of two civilians killed by the KPF.
"Death to Americans," they chanted. "Death to American slaves."
The juggernaut of US imperialism continues unabated in the Middle East.
Funding and arming paramilitary forces is an essential part of the strategy
to maintain control of the region, yet it simultaneously breeds the hatred
that fuels terrorism. However, this plays right into the hands of puppet
masters and the military-industrial complex, for it guarantees the continued
existence of a boogeyman, which perpetuates the necessary fear in the
populace while feeding the profits of those making bombs and bullets [5].
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [6]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[7]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/world/isis-20-meet-new-extremist-group-cia-paying-ki
ll-innocent-civilians-afghanistan
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/justin-gardner
[2] http://thefreethoughtproject.com/
[3]
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/4-minutes-cbs-news-anchor-explains-created-
isis/
[4]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/cia-backed-afghan-militias-fight-a-shad
ow-war/2015/12/02/fe5a0526-913f-11e5-befa-99ceebcbb272_story.html
[5]
https://theintercept.com/2015/12/04/defense-contractors-cite-benefits-of-esc
alating-conflicts-in-the-middle-east/
[6] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on ISIS 2.0: Meet the New
Extremist Group the CIA is Paying to Kill Innocent Civilians in Afghanistan
[7] http://www.alternet.org/
[8] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
