Government Urged to Prosecute War Crimes

Afghanistan’s top human rights official urged the country to confront the horrors of its past, saying that war crimes dating back more than 20 years should be prosecuted and rights abusers should be purged from public office.

Louise Arbour, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Sima Samar, chairwoman of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, presented a report to President Hamid Karzai, calling on the government to meet Afghans’ “desire for justice.”

Karzai welcomed the report and said that although some parts “need to be studied very deeply, ... generally this report is acceptable and I accept it, and to maintain social justice for the people, we will work on it.”