KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced Tuesday that the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office has joined Prosecutors for Prosecutors (PFP), a new campaign that aims to relocate Afghan prosecutors and their families that are targeted by the Taliban.
Peters Baker spoke on behalf of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (APA-US), for which she is the chair of and is leading the campaign, at the press conference, where she announced the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office will offer employment to relocated Afghan prosecutors.
"All of us have experienced – at some point in time – people who are very unhappy with decisions that we make," Peters Baker said. "Many of us, I'd probably gauge, wager that all of us, have experienced death threats to do the type of work that we do, but none of us, none of us have experienced the kind of grave danger that is being experienced right now by people we relied on, that we trusted, that they trusted us, to learn a skill, to do their job, to do their duty to hold the Taliban accountable."
PFP's campaign efforts came to fruition when the APA-US counterpart in Afghanistan made "a dire request" after identifying more than 3,800 prosecutors and their staff members remain in Afghanistan and 26 have been tortured and killed by the Taliban, according to a Jackson County press release.
“I am proud of this project and the leadership of the APA,” said Peters Baker in a press release. “There are hundreds of Afghan prosecutors and judges who put their duty ahead of their safety. Now we have a moral duty to act to protect them. My office has committed to offering employment to relocated Afghan prosecutors.”
Approximately 6,000 Afghan staff members of the Afghanistan Attorney General Office supported rule of law programs before the fall of Kabul nearly two years ago, many of who were responsible for prosecuting Taliban members for murder, terrorism, assaults, kidnapping, abductions, violence against women and drug crimes, according to the press release.
Most of those prosecutors were members of the APA-US Afghan counterpart, APA-AF, and received training from the United States and allied nations.
Because of their previous work prosecuting members of the Taliban, many are in hiding, unemployed and face famine and starvation, per the release.
PFP aims to raise $15 million through non-governmental organizations to relocate 1,500 Afghan prosecutors to the United States and other countries.
Once 1,500 prosecutors are evacuated and relocated, PFP will work to relocate "every Afghan prosecutor seeking relocation," per the release.
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