Brutal Video Of Detainee Torture Emerges From Afghanistan War Crimes Investigation

Along with a pretty epic piece of investigative journalism about potential war crimes, Matthiue Aikens of Rolling Stone posted a brutal video of alleged detainee torture.

In it, a few men from the Afghan police forces hold down a bound Afghan and whip him repeatedly in the buttocks, which are at one point exposed. The man screams "oh my father" over and over during the assault.

The video, Aiken notes, shows what looks to be American servicemen witnessing the beating.

Aikens writes:

[B]ased on their facial hair and appearance they are probably from a U.S. Army Special Forces team. Moreover, the uniform pattern that they seem to be wearing did not see general use in Afghanistan until 2010. (I showed the video to a former Green Beret, who concurred with that assessment.)

As Aikens reported yesterday in Rolling Stone, often these Special Forces teams operate independently and without much oversight from higher commands, leaving room for potential abuse.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai are in negotiations now to extend the Status Of Forces Agreement, giving legal immunity to troops on the ground, to 2014.

One of the main sticking points has been potential war crimes and the perceived lack of accountability for coalition troops.