VOA News - UN Human Rights Monitor in Afghanistan Loses Mandate, Claims US Pressure

VOA News - UN Human Rights Monitor in Afghanistan Loses Mandate, Claims US Pressure: "A university law professor says his position as an independent U.N. human rights investigator in Afghanistan was abolished under diplomatic pressure from Washington. The United States denies the charge, saying the human rights situation in Afghanistan has sufficiently improved to the point that a special monitor is no longer needed.

Charif Bassiouni says his job as a U.N. independent expert on human rights in Afghanistan was not renewed late last month because of his attempts to look into alleged rights abuses by U.S. forces.
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"Then I was told, you know, beware, the United States is lobbying very actively in Geneva not to have the mandate renewed under the assumption that apparently all is well now in Afghanistan and Afghanistan doesn't need a human rights monitor," he said.

The move came only days after he submitted a new report critical not only of Afghan governmental lapses on human rights, but also of abuses by U.S. troops. In his report, he accused U.S. forces of actions amounting to torture at Bagram Air Base outside Kabul, near Kandahar, and at makeshift detention centers at firebases scattered around the country."