Xinhua & Associated Press & – 2009-02-22 23:04:17
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/22/content_10866134.htm
13 Civilians Killed in Coalition Operation in Western Afghanistan
Xinhua
KABUL (February 21, 2009) — An investigation has found 13 civilians were killed in Tuesday’s coalition air strike in Herat province of western Afghanistan, the US military said in a statement on Saturday. An Afghan National Army and Coalition forces investigation team, accompanied by international observers, inspected the operation site to determine the identities of those killed.
Investigators found weapons and ammunition at the operation site, and concluded that 13 civilians were killed along with three militants. The US military has said 15 militants were killed in the air strike before the investigation, but the Afghan Defence Ministry said “seven terrorists” were among “several civilians” killed in the strike, prompting the US military to order an inquiry.
More than 2,100 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year, 40 percent more than 2007, according to new United Nations report.
US Probe Finds Strike Killed Afghan Civilians
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (February 22, 2009) — An operation the American military at first described as a “precision strike” instead killed 13 Afghan civilians and only three militants, the US military said Saturday, three days after sending a general to the site to investigate.
Civilian casualties have been a tremendous source of friction between the United States and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has stepped up demands that US and NATO operations kill no civilians and that Afghan soldiers take part in missions to help prevent unwanted deaths.
The US military originally said 15 militants were killed Tuesday in a coalition operation in the Gozara district of Herat province, but Afghan officials said six women and two children were among the dead, casting doubt on the US claim.
In response, Brig. Gen. Michael Ryan traveled to the site to meet with Afghan elders. Investigators found weapons and ammunition, but concluded that 13 civilians were killed along with three militants, the military said.
“We expressed our deepest condolences to the survivors of the noncombatants who were killed during this operation,” Ryan said in a statement. “Our inquiry in Herat demonstrates how seriously we take our responsibility in conducting operations.”
The investigative team’s trip to Herat came one day after the U.N. released a report saying 2,118 civilians died in the Afghan war last year, a 40 percent increase over 2007 and the most in any year since the US-led invasion in 2001 that ousted the Taliban’s hard-line Islamist regime.
The report said US, NATO and Afghan forces killed 829 civilians, or 39 percent of the 2008 total. Of those, 552 deaths were blamed on air strikes. Militants were blamed for 55 percent of the deaths, or 1,160.
In Kabul, meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, met with Karzai for talks about the ongoing American strategic review of the US mission in Afghanistan, the president’s office said.
Pelosi arrived in Afghanistan on Friday to meet with Afghan officials and US and NATO military leaders and troops, said Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a US military spokeswoman.
© 2009 Hearst Communications Inc.
US: 13 Civilians Killed in Afghan Operation
Jason Straziuso / The Associated Press
Photo: An Afghan woman and her daughter mourn after the death of a relative during an air strike in Herat province, Afghanistan in 2008. The US has admitted that an airstrike earlier this week killed 13 civilians in Herat.
KABUL February 21, 2009) — US military airstrikes in western Afghanistan killed 13 Afghan civilians and only three militants, the US said Saturday, three days after an American general traveled to the site to investigate. Civilian casualties have been a huge source of friction between the US and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has stepped up demands that US and NATO operations kill no civilians and that Afghan soldiers take part in the missions to help prevent unwanted deaths.
A US military statement said the fact that a US general traveled to the western province of Herat to investigate shows how seriously the US takes civilian casualties. The US rarely releases the findings of civilian casualty investigations, and the disclosure this time could show the effect of Karzai’s criticisms.
The US military originally said 15 militants were killed Tuesday in a coalition operation in the Gozara district of Herat province, but Afghan officials said six women and two children were among the dead, casting doubt on the US claim.
Afghan officials say the group targeted in the airstrikes were living in two tents in a remote area. An ethnic group of Afghans known as Kuchis travel the countryside with livestock and live in tents. Photographs obtained by The Associated Press from the site showed the body of a young boy – bloodied and dirtied – lying on a white shroud.
In response, Brig. Gen. Michael Ryan traveled to the site to meet with Afghan elders. Investigators found weapons and ammunition at the site, but concluded that 13 civilians were killed along with three militants, the US said. The US on Saturday released photos of Ryan talking with Afghan elders and hugging a mourning Afghan man.
“We expressed our deepest condolences to the survivors of the noncombatants who were killed during this operation,” Ryan said in a statement. “Our inquiry in Herat demonstrates how seriously we take our responsibility in conducting operations against militant targets and the occurrence of noncombatant casualties. Our concern is for the security of the Afghan people. To this end, we continually evaluate the operations we conduct during the course of our mission in Afghanistan and have agreed to coordinate our efforts jointly,” Ryan said.
After increasingly angry demands by Karzai for more US-Afghan military cooperation, the American and Afghan militaries announced plans this month to increase the number of Afghans who will take part in US operations.
The Afghan Defense Ministry condemned the civilian deaths in a statement Wednesday but noted it would take more time to implement the agreement. But it urged US forces to “be very careful during their operations.”
The investigative team’s trip to Herat came one day after the U.N. released a report saying 2,118 civilians died in the Afghan war last year, a 40 percent increase over 2007 and the most in any year since the US-led invasion in 2001 that ousted the Taliban’s hard-line Islamist regime.
The report said US, NATO and Afghan forces killed 829 civilians, or 39 percent of the 2008 total. Of those, 552 deaths were blamed on airstrikes. Militants were blamed for 55 percent of the deaths, or 1,160.
President Barack Obama this week announced the deployment of 17,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 already in the country to fight an increasingly violent Taliban insurgency. A higher number of troops in the country also means that civilian casualties could increase.
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Comments
Sun, 02/22/2009 – 04:15 — Rowland Scherman (not verified)
How much… did we spend on those smart bombs? Got to get Obama out of Afghanistan. Tell him to read the history of the region. I thought he was (much) SMARTER than Rumsfeld. Perhaps not. Maybe it’s Gates, who maybe is still taking orders from Cheney. This is bloody stupid.
Sun, 02/22/2009 – 01:32 — Otto Schiff (not verified)
Message to President Obama To liberate Afghanistan we will have to destroy it. Why not ask the Russians on how to do that?
Sat, 02/21/2009 – 22:48 — Anonymous (not verified)
i don’t pity the people that voted for obama because they thought he was a “peace president.” you this is a harsh wake-up call for you? at least you don’t live in occupied Afghanistan…
Sat, 02/21/2009 – 22:44 — Fr Tothus (not verified)
More waste of US taxpayer money, more waste of innocent Afghani lives. The US continues its war of terror, all for corporate hegemony over natural gas and oil pipelines. “Until we go through it ourselves, until our people cower in the shelters of New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere while the buildings collapse overhead and burst into flames, and dead bodies hurtle about and, when it is over for the day or the night, emerge in the rubble to find some of their dear ones mangled, their homes gone, their hospitals, churches, schools demolished – only after that gruesome experience will we realize what we are inflicting on the [Afghani] people …” (William Shirer)
© 2009 truthout
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“14 Militants” Killed in Southern Afghanistan
Noor Khan / Associated Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (February 22, 2009) — A battle just outside southern Afghanistan’s largest city has killed at least six Taliban fighters, while an airstrike against militants elsewhere in the south killed eight, officials said Sunday.
A battle in the Panjwayi district — 15 miles (25 kilometers) west of Kandahar city — began late Saturday after Taliban militants ambushed a police patrol, wounding two officers, said Abdullah Khan, the province’s deputy police chief.
NATO and Afghan forces responded, unleashing bombs that could be heard by residents in Kandahar city. Khan said at least six militants have been killed in the fighting, which continued into Sunday.
In neighboring Helmand province, an airstrike on a minivan killed eight militants late Saturday, said Daud Ahmadi, the governor’s spokesman. Ahmadi said an informant told the government that insurgents were riding in the vehicle and authorities told coalition military officials, which hit it with an airstrike.
Southern Afghanistan is the Taliban’s spiritual homeland and the most violent region in Afghanistan. The militants, which were driven from power in a 2001 US-led invasion, have increased their attacks the last three years and now control wide swaths of the countryside.
President Barack Obama announced last week that the US would send 17,000 additional forces to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 Americans already in the country. Many of those forces are expected to deploy to the south to back up British troops fighting in Helmand and Canadian forces fighting in Kandahar.
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