Afghanistan’s Entrenched Systemic Torture Must Be Stopped

Afghanistan’s Entrenched Systemic Torture Must Be Stopped | The Huffington Post: 

It has been four months since the politician Ahmad Ishchi accused Dostum of abducting him and imprisoning him in Dostum’s stronghold in Shiberghan, where guards allegedly beat him and raped him with a rifle barrel.

At the time, Ghani assured Western diplomats that he would see justice done. In January, the attorney general ordered the arrest of nine of Dostum’s guards, but when Dostum refused to hand them over, the attorney general settled for interviewing seven of them in Dostum’s compound in Kabul. Today, the case remains stalled, with both Dostum and his bodyguards waiting out political negotiations over what has become not only a test case for Ghani’s ability to ensure justice, but a clear example of the power strongmen wield over Afghanistan’s future.