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12/28/2014
SPIEGEL h/t Laura Poitras/Jacob Appelbaum:
Death is circling above Helmand Province on the morning of Feb. 7, 2011, in the form of a British Apache combat helicopter named "Ugly 50." Its crew is searching for an Afghan named Mullah Niaz Mohammed. The pilot has orders to kill him.
The Afghan, who has been given the code name "Doody," is a "mid-level commander" in the Taliban, according to a secret NATO list. The document lists enemy combatants the alliance has approved for targeted killings. "Doody" is number 3,673 on the list and NATO has assigned him a priority level of three on a scale of one to four. In other words, he isn't particularly important within the Taliban leadership structure.
The operations center identified "Doody" at 10:17 a.m. But visibility is poor and the helicopter is forced to circle another time. Then the gunner fires a "Hellfire" missile. But he has lost sight of the mullah during the maneuver, and the missile strikes a man and his child instead. The boy is killed instantly and the father is severely wounded. When the pilot realizes that the wrong man has been targeted, he fires 100 rounds at "Doody" with his 30-mm gun, critically injuring the mullah.
The child and his father are two of the many victims of the dirty secret operations that NATO conducted for years in Afghanistan. Their fate is described in secret documents to which SPIEGEL was given access. Some of the documents concerning the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the NSA and GCHQ intelligence services are from the archive of whistleblower Edward Snowden. Included is the first known complete list of the Western alliance's "targeted killings" in Afghanistan. The documents show that the deadly missions were not just viewed as a last resort to prevent attacks, but were in fact part of everyday life in the guerilla war in Afghanistan.
The existence of documents relating to the so-called Joint Prioritized Effects List (JPEL) has only been described in vague terms until now. The missions by US special units are mentioned but not discussed in detail in the US Army Afghanistan war logs published by WikiLeaks in 2010. The documents that have now become accessible provide, for the first time, a systematic view of the targeted killings. They outline the criteria used to determine who was placed on the list and why.
The list, which included up to 750 people at times, proves for the first time that NATO didn't just target the Taliban leadership, but also eliminated mid- and lower-level members of the group on a large scale. Some Afghans were only on the list because, as drug dealers, they were allegedly supporting the insurgents.
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Targeting the Drug Trade
Probably one of the most controversial decisions by NATO in Afghanistan is the expansion of these operations to include drug dealers. According to an NSA document, the United Nations estimated that the Taliban was earning $300 million a year through the drug trade. The insurgents, the document continues, "could not be defeated without disrupting the drug trade."
According to the NSA document, in October 2008 the NATO defense ministers made the momentous decision that drug networks would now be "legitimate targets" for ISAF troops. "Narcotics traffickers were added to the Joint Prioritized Effects List (JPEL) list for the first time," the report reads.
In the opinion of American commanders like Bantz John Craddock, there was no need to prove that drug money was being funneled to the Taliban to declare farmers, couriers and dealers as legitimate targets of NATO strikes.
In early 2009, Craddock, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander for Europe at the time, issued an order to expand the targeted killings of Taliban officials to drug producers. This led to heated discussions within NATO. German NATO General Egon Ramms declared the order "illegal" and a violation of international law. The power struggle within NATO finally led to a modification of Craddock's directive: Targets related to the drug production at least had to be investigated as individual cases.
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CENTER ICE
In Afghanistan, Germany is a member of the "14 Eyes" intelligence-sharing group. In addition to the Anglo-Saxon countries, the group includes Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Sweden and Norway.
These countries operate their own technical platform in Afghanistan code-named "Center Ice," which is used to monitor and exchange data. According to a 2009 NSA presentation, Center Ice was not just used to share intelligence about mobile phone conversations, but also information about targets.
LIMITED EFFECT
A 2009 CIA study that addresses targeted killings of senior enemy officials worldwide reaches a bitter conclusion. Because of the Taliban's centralized but flexible leadership, as well as its egalitarian tribal structures, the targeted killings were only moderately successful in Afghanistan. "Morover, the Taliban has a high overall ability to replace lost leaders," the study finds.
ESCALATE & EXIT
The material is from 2009 to 2011, and falls within the term of US President Barack Obama.
After Obama assumed office, the US government opted for a new strategy. In June 2009, then Defense Secretary Robert Gates installed Stanley McChrystal, a four-star general who had served in Iraq, as commander of US forces in Afghanistan. McChrystal promoted the aggressive pursuit of the Taliban.
This marked the beginning of one of the bloodiest phases of the war. Some 2,412 civilians died in Afghanistan in 2009. Two-thirds of them were killed by insurgents and 25 percent by NATO troops and Afghan security forces. The number of operations against the Taliban rose sharply, to between 10 and 15 a night. The operations were based on the lists maintained by the CIA and NATO -- Obama's lists. The White House dubbed the strategy "escalate and exit."
McChrystal's successor, General David Petraeus, documented the strategy in "Field Manual 3-24" (PDF) on fighting insurgencies, which remains a standard work today (PDF). Petraeus outlined three stages in fighting guerilla organizations like the Taliban. The first was a cleansing phase, in which the enemy leadership is weakened. After that, local forces were to regain control of the captured areas. The third phase was focused on reconstruction. Behind closed doors, Petraeus and his staff explained exactly what was meant by "cleansing." German politicians recall something that Michael T. Flynn, the head of ISAF intelligence in Afghanistan, once said during a briefing: "The only good Talib is a dead Talib."
Under Petraeus, a merciless campaign began to hunt down the so-called shadow governors and local supporters aligned with the Islamists. For the Americans, the fact that the operations often ended in killings was seen as a success. In August 2010, Petraeus proudly told diplomats in Kabul that he had noticed a shifting trend. The figures he presented as evidence made some of the ambassadors feel uneasy. At least 365 insurgent commanders, Petraeus explained, had been neutralized in the last three months, for an average of about four killings a day.
LEGAL & MORAL QUESTIONS
The 13-year combat mission in Afghanistan comes to an official end this week, but the kill lists raise legal and moral questions that extend far beyond Afghanistan. Can a democracy be allowed to kill its enemies in a targeted manner when the objective is not to prevent an imminent attack? And does the goal of eliminating as many Taliban as possible justify killing innocent bystanders?
A democracy that kills its enemies on the basis of nothing but suspicion squanders its claim to moral superiority, making itself complicit instead. This lesson from Afghanistan also applies to the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Yemen.
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LeakSource has cross-referenced the redacted JPEL kill list with WikiLeaks' Afghanistan war logs, and has been able to match-up target numbers and reveal some of the names:
#25 - IS2012
"Local Leader Mullah Nadir s/o Mirza Rahim from Almalek Village"
Source
Related: Taliban Routs Afghan Military Convoy in Ambush (October 2014)
#26 - IS2058
"Taliban Shadow Governor of Faryab Mullah Abdullah"
Source
Related: 57 Insurgents Eliminated in Faryab Offensive (April 2014)
#31 - IS2094
Maulawi Shamsuddin
Taliban chief strategist in Kunduz. Wanted for several attacks, including some targeted at ISAF forces
Source
Related: Prominent Taliban Leader Killed in Badakhshan Province (April 2012) *Unsure if it is the same Shamsuddin
#41 - IS3145
Shirin Agha
Wanted for attacks against German and Aghan security forces
Source
Related: Rebel Leader Among 7 Killed in Kunduz (March 2014)
#151 - IS0210
Janan
Source
Related: Janan Leader of Taliban Killed (March 2013)
#152 - IS3288
Abdul Hadi
Source
#245 - IS1538
Moksin
Source
#273 - IS2004
"Kajaki Taliban Commander Abdul (Salam)"
Source
Related: Brother of Taliban's Military Commission Reported Killed (June 2012)
#281 - IS2093
Nehmatullah
Source
#304 - IS2242
Abdul Rahman
Wanted for hijacking two tanker trucks near Kunduz
Source
Related: KSK Arrests Taliban Mastermind Mullah Abdul Rahman (October 2012)
#306 - IS2252
"Helmand Provincial Council member Haji Naim"
Source
#363- IS3227
Bahruddin
Source
#527 - IS1286 (previously IS1185)
Noor Qasim
"SVBIED (Suicide Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device) facilitator and insurgent leader in Khowst Province. Facilitated the 22AUG07 suicide bomb attack on Governor (Jamal), Khost province. Has ties to Al-Qaida and frequently travels between AF and PK to coordinate insurgent activities. Assembled over 100 fighters to conduct successful attacks against the ANP."
Source
Related: Afghan Taliban Confirms Death of Shadow Governors for Kunar, Kandahar (April 2014) *Unsure if it is the same Noor Qasim
#585 - RTAF1172
Gul Mohammad
"HIG Sub-commander responsible for coordinating insurgent activities within the Bak District. His removal would result in a gap in HIG leadership in the Bak district."
Source
Related: Prominent Taliban Leaders Arrested in Nuristan Province (September 2012) *Unsure if it is the same Gul Mohammad
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