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VOL. CLXVIII . . . No. 58,193 © 2018 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2018
C M Y K Nxxx,2018-12-31,A,001,Bs-4C,E2
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NADER SHAH KOT, Afghani-stan — Razo Khan woke up sud-denly to the sight of assault riflespointed at his face, and demandsthat he get out of bed and onto thefloor.
Within minutes, the armedraiders had separated the menfrom the women and children.Then the shooting started.
As Mr. Khan was driven awayfor questioning, he watched hishome go up in flames. Within werethe bodies of two of his brothersand of his sister-in-law Khanzari,who was shot three times in thehead. Villagers who rushed to thehome found the burned body ofher 3-year-old daughter, Marina,in a corner of a bedroom.
The men who raided the fam-ily’s home that March night, in thedistrict of Nader Shah Kot, weremembers of an Afghan strikeforce trained and overseen by theCentral Intelligence Agency in aparallel mission to the UnitedStates military’s, but with looserrules of engagement.
Ostensibly, the force wassearching for militants. But Mr.Khan and his family had donenothing to put themselves in thecross hairs of the C.I.A.-sponsoredstrike force, according to investi-gators.
It was clear that the raidingforce had “committed an atrocity,”said Jan-mir Zazai, a member ofthe Khost provincial council whowas part of the government inves-tigating team. “Everyone wespoke to said they would swear onthe innocence of the victims.”
At a time when the conventional
Afghan military and police forcesare being killed in record numbersacross the country, the regionalforces overseen by the C.I.A. havemanaged to hold the line againstthe most brutal militant groups,including the Haqqani wing of theTaliban and also Islamic State loy-alists.
But the units have also operatedunconstrained by battlefield rulesdesigned to protect civilians, con-ducting night raids, torture andkillings with near impunity, in acovert campaign that some Af-ghan and American officials say isundermining the wider Americaneffort to strengthen Afghan insti-tutions.
Those abuses are actively push-ing people toward the Taliban, theofficials say. And with only a rela-tively small American troop con-tingent left — and that perhaps setto drop further on PresidentTrump’s orders — the strikeforces are increasingly the waythat a large number of rural Af-ghans experience the Americanpresence.
Many of the strike forces wereofficially put under the control ofAfghan intelligence starting in2012. But senior Afghan and inter-national officials say that the twomost effective and ruthless forces,in Khost and Nangarhar Prov-inces, are still sponsored mainlyby the C.I.A.
Those fighting forces are re-cruited, trained and equipped byC.I.A. agents or contractors whowork closely with them on theirbases, according to several cur-
C.I.A.-Led Afghan ForcesLeave Grim Trail of Abuse
Covert Campaign Alienates Residents andSpurs Accusations of War Crimes
By MUJIB MASHAL
A United Nations report has accused C.I.A.-sponsored units in Khost Province, Afghanistan, above, of operating outside of local law.JIM HUYLEBROEK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Continued on Page A10
Adel Shah, 10, left, was wounded in a night attack by a strikeforce in Nangarhar Province. His father was killed in the raid.
JIM HUYLEBROEK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
signs written in Vietnamese.Or head seven miles west to
Santa Ana, where Vietnamesemakes way for Spanish alongCalle Cuatro, a bustling enclave ofstores and sidewalk stands serv-ing an overwhelming Latino cli-entele.
The Democratic capture of fourRepublican-held congressionalseats in Orange County in Novem-ber — more than half the seven
congressional seats Democratswon from Republicans in Califor-nia — toppled what had long beena fortress of conservative Republi-canism. The sweep stunned partyleaders, among them Paul D.Ryan, the outgoing Housespeaker. Even Gavin Newsom, theDemocratic governor-elect of Cal-ifornia, won the county whereRichard M. Nixon was born.
But the results reflected what
has been a nearly a 40-year rise inthe number of immigrants, non-white residents and college grad-uates that has transformed thisiconic American suburb into aDemocratic outpost, highlightedin a Times analysis of demograph-ic data going back to 1980, the yearRonald Reagan was elected presi-dent.
The ideological shift signaled
WESTMINSTER, Calif. — Toappreciate the vast cultural andpolitical upheaval across OrangeCounty over the last 40 years, lookno further than Bolsa Avenue. Theauto body shop, the tax preparer, achurch, a food market, countlessrestaurants — all are marked by
Cultural Shifts Sweep Away a California Bastion of Conservatism
By ADAM NAGOURNEYand ROBERT GEBELOFF
Continued on Page A16
VIENNA — Boeing was in atight spot. Just as it was preparingto roll out its innovative 787Dreamliner — the plane that wassupposed to lead the aircraft man-ufacturer into the future — ashortage of strong but lightweighttitanium parts threatened produc-tion.
With titanium prices rising anddelivery dates looming, Boeingknew it needed help, so in 2006 itdid what many companies dowhen faced with vexing prob-lems: It turned to McKinsey &Company, the consulting firm withthe golden pedigree, purveyor of“best practices” advice to busi-nesses and governments aroundthe world.
Boeing asked McKinsey to eval-uate a proposal, potentially worth$500 million annually, to mine tita-nium in India through a foreignpartnership financed by an influ-ential Ukrainian oligarch.
McKinsey says it advised Boe-ing of the risks of working with theoligarch and recommended “char-
acter due diligence.” Attached toits evaluation was a single Power-Point slide in which McKinsey de-scribed what it said was the poten-tial partner’s strategy for winningmining permits. It included brib-ing Indian officials.
The partner’s plan, McKinseynoted, was to “respect traditionalbureaucratic process includinguse of bribes.” McKinsey alsowrote that the partner had identi-fied eight “key Indian officials” —named in the PowerPoint slide —whose influence was needed forthe deal to go through. Nowhere inthe slide did McKinsey advise thatsuch a scheme would be illegal orunwise.
McKinsey declined to provideThe New York Times with its fullreport or any evidence that it hadobjected to the paying of bribes.But the consultancy denied rec-ommending “bribery or other ille-gal acts.” For his part, the Ukrain-ian oligarch, Dmitry V. Firtash,denies that he paid or recom-
How a PowerPoint Slide Tangled McKinsey in a U.S. Bribery Case
By WALT BOGDANICH and MICHAEL FORSYTHE
Continued on Page A6
WASHINGTON — The televi-sion is on. The phone is never faraway. And President Trump is re-peatedly calling allies such asmembers of Congress and conser-vative radio hosts, telling themprivately that he will not give in onhis demand for funding for a bor-der wall.
What the president who cam-paigned on his ability to cut dealshas not done, nine days into a par-tial government shutdown overhis signature campaign issue, isreach out to Democratic congres-sional leaders to strike one.
Virtually alone in the WestWing since the shutdown began,Mr. Trump has instead taken toTwitter to excoriate Democrats,and highlight that he canceled hisown vacation to his private club inFlorida while lawmakers left thecity. He has lamented the negativ-ity of the news media coverage,which has included repeated air-ings of Mr. Trump’s declaration inthe Oval Office a few weeks agothat he would not blame Demo-crats for a shutdown, according topeople familiar with his thinking.
Even as some lawmakersfloated compromises on Sunday,Democrats prepared to pass a billto fund the government as soon asthey take control of the House onThursday. Like the Democrats,Mr. Trump appears to have dug in.And the uncertainty over what hemight sign threatens to indefi-nitely drag out a shutdown thathas affected 800,000 federal work-ers and shuttered parts of ninecabinet-level departments.
After Senator Lindsey Graham,Republican of South Carolina, metwith Mr. Trump over lunch onSunday, he said the presidentwould not accept any deal withoutfunding for the wall. But he re-
Trump Digs In,Dimming HopeOf Budget Deal
By MAGGIE HABERMANand SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Continued on Page A14
Carlos Ghosn was tired. At 64 years old, thechairman of an auto empire that spanned severalcontinents and included Nissan, Renault and Mi-tsubishi wasn’t bouncing back from jet lag theway he used to. Melatonin wasn’t working any-more, and he had bouts of insomnia, phoning hischildren in the middle of the night or going onlong walks around his Tokyo or Paris neighbor-hood. He planned to retire soon, stepping backfrom spending his life on an airplane, albeit a lux-urious one paid for by Nissan.
Last month, just before Thanksgiving week-end, Mr. Ghosn headed to Tokyo to meet hisyoungest daughter and her boyfriend and attenda board meeting. He was scheduled to land atHaneda Airport at 4 p.m.
The daughter, Maya Ghosn, 26, had spent mostof her childhood in Japan and wanted to intro-duce her boyfriend, Patrick, to her favoriteplaces. Bringing a boyfriend home is a commonrite of passage, but a particularly intimidatingprospect when growing up Ghosn — a child ofone of the most romanticized and ruthless chief
executives the global business community hasever seen.
Ms. Ghosn had made a 7:30 dinner reservationat Sukiyabashi Jiro, the Michelin-starred sushicounter hidden in a basement in the city’s Ginzadistrict.
On the tarmac in Beirut, Lebanon, Mr. Ghosnopened WhatsApp and texted his four childrenon a group chain labeled “Game of Ghosns,” forhis favorite TV show, “Game of Thrones,” thebloody HBO drama about dynasties under siege.“On my way to Tokyo! Love you guys!” Mr.Ghosn texted as his jet lifted off.
He never made it to dinner.On Nov. 19, Japanese prosecutors surrounded
Mr. Ghosn’s Gulfstream after its arrival and ar-rested him on allegations that for years he hadwithheld millions of dollars in income from Nis-san’s financial filings. (He remains in a Tokyo jail,and on Monday a court extended his detentionuntil Jan. 11.)
Ms. Ghosn was staying at her father’s corpo-rate apartment, and when he didn’t show up she
Stunning Fall of Nissan’s Brash SaviorAccused of Hiding Income, Ghosn (Again) Faces Japan’s Ire
By AMY CHOZICK and MOTOKO RICH
Carlos Ghosn was jailed in Tokyo last month amid accusations of financial wrongdoing.
Continued on Page A8
Lamar Jackson, above, led Baltimore toa playoff spot. Philadelphia also quali-fied for the postseason, as did Indianap-olis. Pittsburgh was left out. PAGE D1
SPORTSMONDAY D1-8
Ravens and Eagles Sneak InHollywood’s sexism angers the criticManohla Dargis, but films like “Supportthe Girls,” above, offer hope. PAGE C1
ARTS C1-8
A Reviewer in the #MeToo EraA NASA spacecraft will visit an object inthe Kuiper belt, seeking clues to how ourcosmic neighborhood formed. PAGE A13
NATIONAL A12-16
New Worlds to Explore
The Federal Trade Commission is underattack for what critics call a systemicfailure to police tech giants and theirvast appetite for personal data. PAGE B1
BUSINESS B1-5
Tech Watchdog Urged to BiteThe delayed effort to replace the Demo-cratic Republic of Congo’s leader of 18years was marred by lost voter rollsand malfunctioning machines. PAGE A4
INTERNATIONAL A4-11
A Year Later, Congo Votes
A New York Times roundup: What popculture moments of 2018 revealedtruths about American politics? PAGE C1
When Worlds CollideQ. and A. with the creator of MillennialLotería, an Instagram-ready parody ofthe beloved original. PAGE A12
A Latino Game, Reimagined
Nancy Roman, NASA’s first chief ofastronomy and first woman in a leader-ship role, oversaw the planning for thespace telescope. She was 93. PAGE A20
OBITUARIES A20-21
‘Mother of the Hubble’
Jesse L. Jackson Sr. PAGE A23
EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23
Novy God, the Russian New Year, is away to gauge Israeli acceptance ofRussian-speaking immigrants. PAGE A4
Secular Fete Featuring Santa
Corey Johnson will be both City Councilspeaker and the public advocate until aspecial election is held. PAGE A17
NEW YORK A17-19
Two Very Powerful Hats
Late EditionToday, increasing clouds, afternoonrain, high 47. Tonight, rain taperingoff, quite mild, low 46. Tomorrow,clouds and sunshine, quite mild,high 59. Weather map, Page B6.
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