THE COLLECTION of biometric data in Afghanistan is causing a rift in relations between residents and international forces, an international observer says.
Defence figures show about 85per cent of Afghan's apprehended by Australian troops are set free. However, they undergo screening that includes the collection of fingerprints, height and weight measurements, photographs of marks or scars and iris scanning.
The material is then cross-referenced with evidence collected from bomb blasts.
Martine van Bijlert, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a Kabul-based thinktank, said the ''catch'' aspect of international military operation's so-called ''catch and kill'' policy was increasingly upsetting locals.
''It is one of the main complaints of the Afghan Government, and of local communities, that international forces can barge into houses and detain - and sometimes kill - whomever they want,'' she said. ''There is a strong sense that many people who are detained are innocent and that the intelligence is patchy or sometimes even fabricated, and this conviction is strengthened by the high proportion of releases.''
Ms van Bijlert said Afghans distrusted the International Security Assistance Force's wide-net approach to detentions.
''There ... seems be an element of wanting to check out as many people as possible, to gather intelligence and to see what comes out of it. There is ... this drive going on to gather the biometric data of as many people as possible.''
Ms van Bijlert said anyone who comes into contact with the military would be registered and Afghans didn't know where the information goes.
An Australian Defence Force spokesman said biometric data collected from arrests was cross-referenced with evidence brought from improvised explosive device-related events or other incidents.
''ISAF manages a country-wide biometric database which includes data from detainees and other Afghans who are biometrically enrolled during security operations,'' the spokesman said.
''Information contained within this database is also available to ISAF's Afghan National Security Force partners and is included in evidence packs when detainees are transferred to Afghan custody for prosecution.''
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