Learn about Unit Zero, the US-allied forces in Afghanistan where the suspect in the attack fought in Washington

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Formally part of the Afghan intelligence services, the Zero Units were made up of paramilitary forces – many of whom had acquired knowledge over the 20 years of the US invasion – and were trained by US Special Forces personnel, equipped with US weapons and operating under orders from the CIA. According to former members of the forces interviewed by The New York Times, their salaries were also paid by US intelligence.

The scenario is not entirely new: in recent decades, especially during the Cold War, the use of paramilitary groups operating without proper external supervision – a mild way of saying that they have the green light to commit abuses – has been an important part of the repression process. How it works From the CIA. During the Vietnam War (1955-1975), the Phoenix Program used local elements to attempt to suppress the Viet Cong insurgency in South Vietnam. Rebel forces under US intelligence orders helped overthrow President Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala in the 1950s, failed against Cuba’s newly established communist regime in the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, and played a crucial role in establishing the Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia in the 1960s.

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In Afghanistan, the “zero units”, which appeared in the first moments of the October 2001 invasion, carried an aura of mystery – no one wanted to talk about them or be associated with them – and clear missions: to carry out missions in support of US special forces, and to take risks that the US military establishment was not willing or able to undertake. Targets included Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, ISIS operatives, and operatives involved in terrorist attacks. Although CIA representatives claimed otherwise, they were not subject to the rules of war of regular armed forces.

– We were fighting for freedom – said Nasir Andar, a member of the Jalalabad-based Zero Units, in a statement to Rolling Stone magazine. -We were fighting for our land. For our knowledge. For the sake of our dignity. We were fighting for our rights and humanity. We didn’t want to use our soil to hurt anyone.

Rahmanullah Lakkanwal, the suspect in the Washington attack, has worked since 2011 in Unit 3 of the CIA’s “secret army” on the outskirts of Kandahar, the Taliban’s stronghold in southern Afghanistan. According to the Afghan military report, heard by the New York Times, in July 2021, President Ashraf Ghani had to ask the CIA for clearance for Unit 3 to help him defend Kandahar from the Taliban — no authority involved in the request has officially confirmed this, and Ghani fled Kabul before his government fell in August. Officially, the units were dismantled that year.

– They are highly effective, motivated and cheap units – Ghani’s former security adviser, Hamdullah Mohib, told the New York Times in December 2021. – They don’t need all kinds of heavy equipment. I wish we had more units like this.

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But this is not just a story of courage. In addition to men accused of belonging to terrorist groups, hundreds of civilians were killed in night operations carried out by the Zero Units: a survey conducted by ProPublica in January 2023 showed that in 107 operations, 452 civilians were killed, without any kind of punishment. The figure that veterans of the CIA’s secret war themselves admit is an underestimate.

-These deaths happened at our hands. “I participated in many raids, and there were hundreds of raids in which someone was killed and it was not Taliban or ISIS members, and where there were no militants,” a former member of the Zero Unit told ProPublica.

In October 2019, Human Rights Watch published a report accusing the Zero Units of “extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, indiscriminate air strikes, attacks on medical facilities, and other violations of international humanitarian law or the laws of war.” The complaint refers to the role of the CIA in training and supporting militias, and states that members of the US military participated in some operations in which civilians were killed.

“In an interview with Human Rights Watch, a diplomat familiar with Afghan strike force operations referred to these forces as ‘death squads,’” reads an excerpt from the report, which recounts some cases of attacks on civilians. He added: “Instead of achieving stability in Afghanistan, they undermined Afghan institutions and put many Afghans in danger.”

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In 2023, in response to ProPublica, the agency stated that the United States was taking “extraordinary measures—beyond those required by law—to minimize civilian casualties in armed conflicts, and treats any reports of human rights violations with the utmost seriousness.” Regarding the Zero Units, he claimed that the accusations were part of a media campaign to tarnish their image “because of the threat they pose to the Taliban regime.” The justification has been repeated now, after the Washington attack.

Among the first wave of nearly 80,000 Afghans transferred to the United States through Operation Welcome to Allies, which aims to support people who have worked with the Americans throughout 20 years of war, there were between 10 and 12 thousand members of Unit Zero, including Lakhanwal, who arrived in August 2021. In an interview with The New York Times, some of the veterans said they were shocked by Wednesday’s attack, and said that today they are trying to live their lives in Its best. possible way, without mentioning his past actions.