A coalition of prosecutors from the United States is trying to help evacuate prosecutors from Afghanistan who are being hunted by the Taliban<\/p>\n
August 15 marks the two-year anniversary of the fall of Kabul, which completed the Taliban\u2019s takeover of Afghanistan. Two weeks later, only two American officials remained in the country. The US Embassy\u2019s charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires, Ross Wilson, and US Army Gen. Christopher Donahue took the last flight out of Afghanistan. With the Americans gone, the Taliban had total control. This would prove deadly for many Afghans, but especially for the country\u2019s former prosecutors and judges, who experts say are now being hunted.<\/p>\n
Twenty-nine Afghan prosecutors have been killed by the Taliban in the last two years. Three of those killings have occurred within the last three weeks. Many former prosecutors are hiding in fear, unemployed, and unable to provide for their families. It is a problem some experts say the new government created and encouraged.<\/p>\n
The Taliban released everybody [from jail] and said, \u2018Go take your revenge with impunity,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cThe Taliban released everybody [from jail] and said, \u2018Go take your revenge with impunity,\u2019\u201d Executive Director of Jewish Humanitarian Response (JHR) Caroline Marks told The Media Line. \u201cSo, all the wife beaters, wife murders, rapists, former corrupt politicians, those who were arrested and detained for terrorism, they are the ones who, in addition to the Taliban, are also hunting them down. They essentially end up doing a service for the Taliban.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former prosecutor Mumtaz Sherzai is one such example of hunted litigators. On July 15, 2022, a gang of Taliban pulled Sherzai away from the home he shared with his wife and 3-year-old daughter in Khost, a city in Southeastern Afghanistan. It wasn\u2019t the first time the Taliban had kidnapped Sherzai, who was working as a law professor at Khost University\u2014but this time it would be the last. The following day, locals found his tortured body two miles away from his home, dumped near the airport. He only made it 11 months under the Taliban\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a dire need for saving these people and their families,\u201d former Attorney General Mohammad Farid Hamidi, who was also Sherzai\u2019s boss, told The Media Line. \u201cThe Taliban hates the judicial system, like attorneys, prosecutors, and judges because a big number of Taliban were arrested and tried according to the laws of the country. And they served in jails.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamidi served as Afghanistan\u2019s attorney general from March 2016 until March 2021 under President Ashraf Ghani. He recently teamed up with Prosecutors for Prosecutors, a new coalition of humanitarian organizations and American legal professionals who are focused on evacuating Afghan prosecutors. The project is led by The Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, an organization based in the US that aims to defend prosecutors.<\/p>\n
These are our colleagues. They were trained by the US and allied nations to uphold the rule of law. We can\u2019t just leave them behind to be hunted and killed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cWe were moved to launch this campaign because we were getting so many desperate pleas for help,\u201d President and CEO of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys David LaBahn told The Media Line. \u201cThese are our colleagues. They were trained by the US and allied nations to uphold the rule of law. We can\u2019t just leave them behind to be hunted and killed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prosecutors for Prosecutors aims to evacuate 1,500 Afghan prosecutors and their families out of Afghanistan, which the group estimates will cost $15 million to accomplish.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery organization we work with is asking for two things: governments to expedite the relocation of prosecutors in danger and money to help pay the costs incurred by these prosecutors who are in hiding and unemployed. We are trying to bring awareness and raise funds for this desperate need,\u201d LaBahn said.<\/p>\n
Awareness and legal assistance for visas have been two major issues for humanitarian groups working to evacuate Afghans. Because of this, organizations involved in the project say they\u2019re excited about working with the prosecutors and expect their involvement will help breathe new life into the plight of America\u2019s left-behind allies in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got people who can get out there in the public and be mouthpieces for the issue,\u201d Marks said of JHR\u2019s collaboration with Prosecutors for Prosecutors. \u201cIt is really difficult to maintain interest in this and of course the governments aren\u2019t stepping in to be the solution providers, therefore it is up to the NGOs and private funding to actually help people.\u201d<\/p>\n
JHR, a member of Prosecutors for Prosecutors, has extensive experience with humanitarian crisis support in Afghanistan which includes all aspects of evacuation operations for endangered and critically ill Afghans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need continued help and continued advocacy. If anyone can do it, politicians and prosecutors, they can do it,\u201d Elizabeth Lynn, a US Navy Afghanistan War veteran and Operation Recovery senior staff member, told The Media Line.<\/p>\n
Operation Recovery is a multifaceted humanitarian organization that, much like JHR, began Afghanistan evacuation operations just after the fall of Kabul and is now working with Prosecutors for Prosecutors.<\/p>\n
According to Lynn, the expertise provided by the legal community empowers the NGOs who have been doing this work for several years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt provides us with one more level of support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The organizations hope that support will help move along the visa process for Afghan prosecutors. There is a push to have prosecutors included in the Afghan Adjustment Act, with proponents arguing a prosecutor provision must be added. The act failed to be included as an amendment in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, and the legislation\u2019s future is unclear.<\/p>\n
Still, Hamidi is hopeful that US politicians will carve out a place in the US visa system for his colleagues, who he says stood side by side with the US in fighting terrorism.<\/p>\n
\u201cProsecutors and judges are forgotten allies, and this is the time for US leaders, and also the allies of the US, to take a share of this burden and to provide resettlement opportunities and safe places for prosecutors and judges,\u201d Hamidi said.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors for Prosecutors comprises 10 founding organizations: Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, Afghanistan Prosecutors Association, Jewish Humanitarian Response (JHR), Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, International Association of Prosecutors, NATO AFG Justice Sector, No One Left Behind, The #AfghanEvac Coalition, Operation Recovery, and Freedom Bird Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A coalition of prosecutors from the United States is trying to help evacuate prosecutors from Afghanistan who are being hunted by the Taliban August 15 marks the two-year anniversary of the fall of Kabul, which completed the Taliban\u2019s takeover of Afghanistan. Two weeks later, only two American officials remained in the country. The US Embassy\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9200,"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9197\/revisions\/9200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}