Afghan police beatings well-known, panel told

OTTAWA -- Afghan authorities routinely beat people "in the street and elsewhere" and most Canadian soldiers know about it, a military board of inquiry has found.The results of a five-week investigation, released Friday, found troops in Kandahar had lingering concerns about the local police force.
"The practice of corporal punishment being meted out on an apparent whim in the street and elsewhere was common and was observed and commented upon by most Canadian Forces members," the report says.The findings came in a report into a June 2006 detainee transfer that resulted in a man being beaten by local authorities.In that incident, Canadian soldiers on patrol stopped a "suspicious" vehicle and pulled aside one of the men inside for a closer look.The Canadians asked a group of Afghan police to take the man to their headquarters in Zhari district for further questioning.A now-retired warrant officer told the board a local interpreter working for the Canadians had a funny feeling about what the Afghan cops might do to the captive.The soldier said the Afghan police "became very excited" around the prisoner and the interpreter "had a 'feeling' that something might not be right."A commander, who wasn't at the scene, later told the board that particular unit of Afghan cops had "recently suffered casualties in the region, including the mutilation of some of their fallen by the Taliban."The Canadians were told to take photos of the captive before turning him over to the Afghans. This was done as the Canadians' way of "impressing upon ANP No. 5 that (blank) was expected to arrive at (blank) unchanged from his present condition," the report says."He wanted to have a record of (blank) appearance just in case something untoward happened."The report says the section commander never saw the Afghan police abusing detainees, though he had heard rumours to that effect.Another soldier offered this blunt assessment of the Afghan police unit: "Oh yes, those wing nuts. They were (blank's) little pet unit. They were garbage. We had a lot of run-ins with them."The Canadians saw the Afghan cops start to beat their captive as their truck sped away.They chased down the truck and took back the prisoner. He was treated for minor scrapes and bruises and turned over to another group of Afghan police.
The board concluded the Canadian soldiers did nothing wrong by not reporting the incident to superiors because they were confused by the policy in place.The probe made no recommendations because it found the military now has a clearly defined process of documenting and reporting detainees.