All Our Hopes Are Crushed

The U.S.-led coalition forces are actively backing a warlord in western Afghanistan with a disastrous human rights record, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The 51-page report, "All Our Hopes Are Crushed: Violence and Repression in Western Afghanistan" documents widespread abuses by the military, police and intelligence services under the command of Ismail Khan, the local governor. The abuses include arbitrary and politically-motivated arrests, intimidation, extortion and torture, as well as serious violations of the rights to free expression and association.