U.S. forces in Afghanistan were reeling from photographs published in Der Spiegel and The Guardian newspapers last week, as the first of five soldiers connected with the case was sentenced to 24 years in prison. Jeremy Morlock, 23, pleaded guilty to charges of killing civilians and using illicit drugs while on duty.
The controversy first emerged just under a year ago, when the soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade were arrested. Morlock, in his testimony, said that they first plotted to kill civilians in late 2009, a few weeks before the first murders took place. The soldiers planned to plant weapons at the scene of the crimes to make it appear that they were acting in self defence.
While on leave at home in March last year, Morlock admitted to having "second thoughts" about the murders, but still took part in a killing in May. Some of the soldiers kept the body parts of their victims as souvenirs, including a skull. One of the photographs published depicted Morlock holding a dead civilian by his hair and smiling at the camera.
In addition to these charges, he was also one of six soldiers convicted of smoking hashish at the base where they were stationed. The man who reported the drug abuse was assaulted by Morlock and the other five soldiers. In pleading guilty to the drug charge he stated that he was not inebriated when performing the murders.
Morlock's family and friends established an online fund to help him employ attorneys to defend his case. The fund was established in August 2010, although there are no posts on the amounts collected so far at its website, jeremymorlockdefense.com.
The court martial sentence for murdering civilians is life imprisonment along with dishonourable discharge from the army. Morlock's sentence, 24 years with the possibility of parole after seven, was delivered as part of a plea deal he made with prosecutors, which will see him testify against his co-defendants. He has already pointed to his superior, Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, as the main instigator of the killings.
The political fallout from the case represents another blow to the battered image the army has made for itself in Afghanistan. Commanding officers personally apologized to the families of the victims. In a press statement, the U.S. army condemned the photos as "repugnant to us as human beings, and contrary to the standards and values of the United States army."
Army chiefs have been preparing for the potential fallout from the case for weeks, as sentencing drew nearer. Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, recently admitted to officials that he feared it might trigger anti-American protests, in a manner similar to the fallout from the Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq which showed soldiers making fun of bound and gagged prisoners as well as torturing them.
Officials from the Afghanistan National Security Council, who are responsible for relations with the U.S. army, have strongly condemned the photographs. The incidents further jeopardize stability and are setbacks to the peace process in the country, with general public opinion slowly but surely turning against both President Hamid Karzai's government and the coalition forces.
In a separate incident on Friday, the government of Australia apologized for racist remarks made by their soldiers in Afghanistan. Videos released by Australia's Seven News Network showed soldiers referring to Afghanis as "smelly" and laughing at a man fleeing an explosion as "a scared mufti." The videos and racist comments from troops were first posted on Facebook.
Australia has 1,550 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, mostly serving in the southern province of Uruzgan. Stephen Smith, the defence minister, promptly apologized to his Afghan counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak in a phone call.
Well over 2,400 troops from the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada and other allied countries have died in the war since it began in 2001. The coalition forces have not made public their tally on the number of Taliban insurgents killed in that time, although defence analysts place the latest estimates at around 30,000.
Thousands of civilian casualties have also been reported, many of them from misdirected bombs or 'friendly fire'. The BBC reported that 2,700 civilians were killed in 2010 alone, 15% more than in 2009.
The Taliban are responsible for around 74% of all deaths that occur in the country with Afghan and Nato forces responsible for approximately 16%.
Coalition soldiers' apparent disregard for civilian safety, along with the disrespect shown to many locals, has aggravated the public. The Taliban are frequently able to recruit young men from villages, according to a report that appeared on Wikileaks.
Afghanistan looks likely to remain in a troubled state for some time to come. Infrastructure remains in tatters, despite billions of dollars in aid money and financial assistance. Corruption is at an all-time high, with Afghanistan placed in the lowest 10 nations in Transparency International's Global Corruption Perception Index rankings. Governing systems at all levels have been plagued by nepotism and power-brokering with warlords.
The opium trade has now become the biggest single contributor to the economy, making up almost half of Gross Domestic Product by 2009. The country supplies 90% of the world's opium, and NATO has singled this as the most important source of financing for the Taliban. Destroying poppy fields and opium production facilities will marginalize rural villagers, however, who could then switch their allegiance away from the government and further jeopardize the coalition force's mission.
In all 34 of Afghanistan's provinces, the war rages on for control of the country, the end of the Taliban uprising and the capture of Osama Bin Laden. The mission, named Operation Enduring Freedom, will endure, but whether it will indeed ensure freedom for the people of Afghanistan remains to be seen.
