media radar. And oops if more civilians just "accidentally" get in the way or are deemed to be harboring anyone who might resemble an al-Qaida terrorist, well, too bad - they might just be killed or taken to an American funded prison to be tortured until they tell the truth.
Analysis: Night-raid deal in Afghanistan is largely symbolic
By CHRIS CARROLL
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 10, 2012
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon won’t come right out and say it, but the agreement that governs night raids in Afghanistan is a largely symbolic document that eases United States-Afghan relations, while having little effect on the U.S. military’s ability to nab Taliban insurgents and other high-value targets.
That’s the assessment of national security analysts who have studied the memorandum of understanding signed in Kabul on Sunday by top Afghan and U.S. military officials.
The agreement itself only governs what it calls “special operations,” defined as joint Afghan-U.S. operations approved by Afghan security and law enforcement officials. There’s room around the edges for exceptional circumstances, like a high-ranking al-Qaida operative who turned up in the country, said Lisa Curtis, a South Asia specialist at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank.
“It defines it fairly narrowly, and leaves open the possibility of a counterterrorism raid conducted by a CIA paramilitary group or other unit,” she said. “That’s not to say those operations will occur regularly … but it stands to reason that if the United States had a very high-value target in its sights, it would pursue that target as it needed to.”
Though Defense Department officials would not answer questions Monday about whether the U.S. would ever mount a unilateral night raid in Afghanistan, a counterterrorism expert said that given the right circumstances, the answer is clearly yes.
http://www.stripes.com/news/analysis-night-raid-deal-in-afghanistan-is-largely-symbolic-1.174071
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