Warlord’s delight

SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images In a development that’s getting far too little press, Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed a limited amnesty bill into law this weekend. The bill absolves most individuals of any wrongdoing (read: war crimes) in the fight against the Soviets and the country’s bloody civil war in the 1990s. Warlords and militia leaders ...

603383_070312_warlords_05.jpg
603383_070312_warlords_05.jpg

SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images

SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images

In a development that’s getting far too little press, Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed a limited amnesty bill into law this weekend.

The bill absolves most individuals of any wrongdoing (read: war crimes) in the fight against the Soviets and the country’s bloody civil war in the 1990s. Warlords and militia leaders can still be prosecuted, but the burden of proof is solely on the accuser. And with the lower house of parliament totally dominated by former militia commanders (unsurprisingly, they were the authors of the bill), the idea that victims will now come forward and charge some of the most powerful men in the country with wrongdoing seems preposterous.

The bill’s authors argue that war crimes tribunals for deeds going back decades would tear the country apart. But it’s interesting that those authors had the most to lose if the tribunals went forward. And now it’s clear who (still) pulls the strings in Afghanistan.

Carolyn O'Hara is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.

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