Canada defended Afghan 'human-rights abuser,' memos allege

[CHIMO]

Source: The Canadian Press

OTTAWA–A former governor of Kandahar who is accused of personally torturing Afghans might have been removed from office as far back as 2006 if Canadian officials hadn't defended him, according to diplomatic memos that have never been made public by the Canadian government.

The revelation about Asadullah Khalid, who stayed on as governor two years after concerns about his notorious reputation were raised, opens up another embarrassing avenue of inquiry over Afghan prisoner abuse.

The new allegation is contained in a two-year-old end-of-mission report by Richard Colvin, the whistleblower foreign service officer. An uncensored version of the report was shown for the first time to The Canadian Press.

Colvin's disgust that Canada would support a "known human-rights abuser" was palpable and formed the most incendiary paragraphs of the report. References to Khalid were entirely blacked out in the version of the report publicly released to the Military Police Complaints Commission.



Read more: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/afghanmission/article/738292--canada-defended-afghan-human-rights-abuser-memos-allege?bn=1

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R