53 JURIST Contributing Editor Ali Khan of Washburn University School of Law says that in the name of the “war of terror,” NATO forces in Afghanistan are committing genocide by systematically hunting down and destroying the Taliban, a puritanical Islamic group, contrary to the terms of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide… The Facts The NATO website lists its killings in Afghanistan. These killings are also reported in the world media, often with a shameless tone of gratitude as if NATO forces are engaged in wiping out cannibals. In 2007 alone, NATO helicopters and precision guided munitions bombed and killed over six thousand “Taliban.” Read the following recent attacks, which the NATO itself reports, and smell the scent of genocide: • On January 19, 2008, NATO launched a preemptive strike relying on “credible intelligence” that the Taliban were planning to mass on a NATO base. The attack killed two dozen “insurgents” in the Watapoor District of Kunar Province, though the exact number of casualties could not be confirmed because of the rough mountainous region. The world media reported that numerous civilians were killed and 25 bodies were buried in just one mass grave. • On January 12, 2008, NATO forces conducted what it calls a “precise strike” on a compound in Kapsia Province targeting Taliban leaders. NATO claimed that the civilians were cleared from the compound before the attack. The claim is absurd because any removal of civilians from the compound would have alerted the battle-hardened Taliban that an enemy attack was imminent. • On September 20, 2007, NATO forces launched “Operation Palk Wahel” to kill and remove the Taliban from an area in the Upper Gereshk Valley. Numerous civilians were killed. The evidence of the genocide was so obvious that NATO admitted that it “was unaware of civilians in the vicinity of the target and unfortunately it appears that a number of non-combatants were caught in the attack and killed.” NATO – Brussel 54