Canadian officer says Afghan rumours of torture overblown

Maj.-Gen. Mike Ward was chief of staff during the first stages of the Kandahar mission in 2005.

Testifying before the Military Police Complaints Commission in Ottawa yesterday, Maj.-Gen. Mike Ward said that reports of prisoner abuse by Afghan forces were exaggerated, and that Afghan prisons “are not torture chambers per se." The commission is investigating allegations that Canadian forces handed over detainees to Afghan forces despite knowing there was a high likelihood they would be tortured. Ward also said that what happened to prisoners after they were transferred to Afghan security forces was beyond the Canadian military’s responsibility. Paul Champ, a lawyer for Amnesty International who’s also taking part in the hearings, called Ward’s statements “ridiculous” and said torture was widespread in Afghanistan.