Civilian deaths anger Afghan government
KABUL, Afghanistan – In a rare rebuff, Afghanistan’s government sharply criticized the U.S. military Tuesday for killing up to 17 civilians in an air strike and ordered an immediate inquiry.
The U.S. military said the air strike in eastern Afghanistan was carried out on a known terrorist base, but leaders in Kabul said the deaths of the civilians, including women and children, could not be justified.
It marked unusual criticism from the government of President Hamid Karzai, often viewed by critics as an American puppet. The United States provides security for the president as well as hundreds of millions of dollars a year in aid to Afghanistan.
The reprimand also highlighted Afghan government concern that deadly mistakes could erode public support for the U.S. presence here. In the past, Karzai’s government has expressed interest in long-term U.S. military presence in the region.
The air strike that killed civilians happened on Friday. The number of people killed was still unclear, but “roughly half” may have been civilians, while the rest were Taliban or al Qaeda fighters, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Tuesday.
U.S. forces described the house as “a known operating base for terrorist attacks … as well as a base for a medium-level terrorist leader.”
But Jawed Ludin, Karzai’s chief of staff, said “there is no way … the killing of civilians can be justified.”
“The president is extremely saddened and disturbed,” he said. “It’s the terrorists we are fighting. It’s not our people who should suffer.”
A government team is on its way to the site to probe the bombing, a Defense Ministry statement said. The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission said its investigators were already there collecting victims’ names.
An initial U.S. air strike destroyed a house, and as villagers gathered to look at the damage, a U.S. warplane dropped a second bomb on the same target, killing 17 people, including three women and children, Kunar provincial Gov. Asadullah Wafa said.
He said it was unclear who was killed in the initial attack on the tiny village of Chechal.
The U.S. military said in a statement that the attack “resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of enemy terrorists and noncombatants.” U.S. forces “regret the loss of innocent lives and follow stringent rules of engagement specifically to ensure that noncombatants are safeguarded,” the statement said.
It suggested some victims were the militants’ relatives and said, “when enemy forces move their families into the locations where they conduct terrorist operations, they put these innocent civilians at risk.”
An official with the Afghan human rights group warned the killings will “damage America’s image here and public support for the war on terror.”
“It undermines all the good work the Americans have done in Afghanistan over the past three years,” said Ahmad Nader Nadery.