US has finally called its deadly air strike in Afghanistan a mistake and has vowed to hold people accountable. Saturday’s strike on an Afghan hospital run by Doctors Without Borders, or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), killed 22 people and deeply angered the medical charity. The air strike caused shock around the world and deep embarrassment for US forces in Afghanistan where every mistake by the enemy is celebrated by the Taliban. That a hospital has been hit makes matters worse, which makes any amount of explaining less plausible.
The US admission comes after a few unsuccessful attempts to cover up its mistake. According to a Guardian report, Washington altered its story for fourth time in four days. The latest admission was that the US special operations forces – not their Afghan allies – called in the deadly airstrike on the hospital in Kunduz. Earlier, General John Campbell, the commander of the US and Nato war in Afghanistan, had reiterated that Afghan forces had requested US air cover after being engaged in a fierce fight to retake Kunduz from the Taliban. But, modifying the account he gave at a press conference on Monday, Campbell said those Afghan forces had not directly communicated with the US pilots of an AC-130 gunship overhead.
The airstrike on the hospital is among the worst and most visible cases of civilian deaths caused by US forces during the 14-year Afghanistan war. It killed 12 MSF staff and 10 patients, who had sought medical treatment after the Taliban overran Kunduz last weekend. Three children died in the airstrike that came in multiple waves and burned patients alive in their beds.
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said the Pentagon “deeply regrets” the loss of life. “The US military takes the greatest care in our operations to prevent the loss of innocent life, and when we make mistakes, we own up to them. That’s exactly what
we’re doing right now,” Carter said in a statement.
While Washington has taken the right step by regretting the mistake, the damage it has done to the coalition and Afghan forces can’t be underestimated. The government of President Ashraf Ghani is especially in a precarious position because of its alliance with the Western forces. Ghani is heavily dependent on Washington for military support and therefore was far less critical of the United States than his predecessor Hamid Karzai. The president has held back from directly criticizing the US for the strike.
The mistakes come at a critical time for Afghan forces which are struggling to fight back the Taliban. The US special operations forces will have to take extreme care to avoid a repetition of these mistakes.
US has finally called its deadly air strike in Afghanistan a mistake and has vowed to hold people accountable. Saturday’s strike on an Afghan hospital run by Doctors Without Borders, or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), killed 22 people and deeply angered the medical charity. The air strike caused shock around the world and deep embarrassment for US forces in Afghanistan where every mistake by the enemy is celebrated by the Taliban. That a hospital has been hit makes matters worse, which makes any amount of explaining less plausible.
The US admission comes after a few unsuccessful attempts to cover up its mistake. According to a Guardian report, Washington altered its story for fourth time in four days. The latest admission was that the US special operations forces – not their Afghan allies – called in the deadly airstrike on the hospital in Kunduz. Earlier, General John Campbell, the commander of the US and Nato war in Afghanistan, had reiterated that Afghan forces had requested US air cover after being engaged in a fierce fight to retake Kunduz from the Taliban. But, modifying the account he gave at a press conference on Monday, Campbell said those Afghan forces had not directly communicated with the US pilots of an AC-130 gunship overhead.
The airstrike on the hospital is among the worst and most visible cases of civilian deaths caused by US forces during the 14-year Afghanistan war. It killed 12 MSF staff and 10 patients, who had sought medical treatment after the Taliban overran Kunduz last weekend. Three children died in the airstrike that came in multiple waves and burned patients alive in their beds.
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said the Pentagon “deeply regrets” the loss of life. “The US military takes the greatest care in our operations to prevent the loss of innocent life, and when we make mistakes, we own up to them. That’s exactly what
we’re doing right now,” Carter said in a statement.
While Washington has taken the right step by regretting the mistake, the damage it has done to the coalition and Afghan forces can’t be underestimated. The government of President Ashraf Ghani is especially in a precarious position because of its alliance with the Western forces. Ghani is heavily dependent on Washington for military support and therefore was far less critical of the United States than his predecessor Hamid Karzai. The president has held back from directly criticizing the US for the strike.
The mistakes come at a critical time for Afghan forces which are struggling to fight back the Taliban. The US special operations forces will have to take extreme care to avoid a repetition of these mistakes.
