Tracking C.I.A.-Backed “Zero Units” in Afghanistan

[Manuel Tavares]

Tracking C.I.A.-Backed “Zero Units” in Afghanistan
Posted on 01/16/2023 by EraOfLight —
https://eraoflight.com/2023/01/16/tracking-c-i-a-backed-zero-units-in-afghanistan/
Posted here by http://achama.biz.ly/english/

In 2019, reporter Lynzy Billing returned to Afghanistan to research the murders of her mother and sister nearly 30 years earlier. Instead, in the country’s remote reaches, she stumbled upon the C.I.A.-backed Zero Units, who conducted night raids — quick, brutal operations designed to have resounding psychological impacts while ostensibly removing high-priority enemy targets.

So, Billing attempted to catalog the scale of civilian deaths left behind by just one of four Zero Units, known as the 02, over a four-year period. The resulting report represents an effort no one else has done or will ever be able to do again. Here is what she found:

At least 452 civilians were killed in 107 raids. This number is almost certainly an undercount. While some raids did result in the capture or death of known militants, others killed bystanders or appeared to target people for no clear reason.....+ https://eraoflight.com/2023/01/16/tracking-c-i-a-backed-zero-units-in-afghanistan/