New Evidence Reveals the British “Kill/Capture” Policy in Afghanistan

A BBC panorama report has revealed new evidence regarding the killings of an Afghan family by British special forces in 2012. A mother and father were bombed in their own homes and their small child (one of 5 children) was severely wounded. The attack took place without any evidence that the family posed a security threat. The subsequent investigation uncovered a systemic policy in military operations to kill innocent Afghans and fabricate that they were involved in terrorist activity. That particular incident was never reported to the military police and one soldier was found to have killed 54 people over the course of his 6 months duty.

The policy of indiscriminate killing of innocent Afghans is not a new occurrence. It is a matter that has tormented the citizens of Afghanistan since the Gulf War erupted in the region since 2003. The resulting persistent drone attacks that bomb and terrorize the entire area created a social climate where no one could ever feel safe, even in their own homes.

The Watson Brown Educational platform estimated that approximately 387,072 civilians have been killed since the 9/11 invasions of the Syrian, Yemeni, Afghan and Pakistan region.

The horrific history of how thousands of women and children have been caught in these attacks is the lasting legacy of colonialist military action in Muslim lands. There are terrifying and explicit accounts of exactly how people are surprised whilst undertaking their normal daily routines. There is no consideration to the vulnerability of the elderly or babies. One BBC report recounts the interview with a farmer, Abdul Aziz's in his family home.

“At about 3am, British military helicopters descended through the dark sky over Nimruz and landed outside the village… where the family was sleeping. Abdul Aziz was woken by the first gunshots, and within minutes foreign soldiers were in his room, he said, pushing him on the ground, handcuffing and blindfolding him. I pleaded with them to let me go to where my son and daughter-in-law and their children were sleeping," Abdul Aziz said. "I could hear my two daughters screaming and pleading for help….I could not do anything for my children. Abdul Aziz was blindfolded, beaten and interrogated. The special forces operatives had also gone to the house next door, where a widower called Lal Mohammad lived with his six sons and three daughters. One of his sons, Mohammad Mohammad, who was 12 at the time, told the BBC that he and his brothers were brought outside and detained by the assault team. He was blindfolded and - possibly because of his young age - taken separately to Hussain's home and held there for the rest of the raid. It was only after the troops left the village, hours later, that Abdul Aziz was able to take off his blindfold and go out into the morning light to the place where Hussain and Ruqqia and the boys had been sleeping. "There was blood everywhere", he said, "blood soaked into the sheets and the mattresses." According to members of both families who saw Hussain and Ruqqia's bodies, both had been shot in the head. Imran and Bilal's bloody bedclothes lay there, but the boys were gone’.

This exact is a typical example of the daily abuse that Afghan women and children face at the hands of the foreign agents and silent Muslim rulers who give full permission for the ongoing chaos in the Muslim lands. Kidnapped women. Children slaughtered while their study in school, women forced to be separated from their male guardians and have strangers enter their private homes randomly day and night.

Brothers and sister, just try to see yourself and your loved ones with this unimaginable state of instability. It is truly a living nightmare with no end in sight without the Khilafah (Caliphate). It was narrated from Salamah bin ‘Ubaidullah bin Mihsan Al-Ansari that his father said: “The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: «مَنْ أَصْبَحَ مِنْكُمْ مُعَافًى فِي جَسَدِهِ آمِنًا فِي سِرْبِهِ عِنْدَهُ قُوتُ يَوْمِهِ فَكَأَنَّمَا حِيزَتْ لَهُ الدُّنْيَا» “Whoever among you wakes up physically healthy, feeling safe and secure within himself, with food for the day, it is as if he acquired the whole world.” Unfortunately it can never be the case that these basic human rights of security and life status is secured in the current climate of the worst people leading the Ummah in their affairs. We pray for the return of the Khilafah and work hard for the Ameer to be the leader that is in the mold of the Prophet (saw).

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Imrana Mohammad
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir