by Damozel | Deb Cupples posted on this last Friday. At that time, a strike against the Taliban---successful, as far as it went---allegedly killed 70 civilians. (NYT 8-25-08) If true...way to get them on our side, as she says. And in fact, as Alastair Leithead reports, the attack has most definitely driven a wedge between the US and its Afghan allies.(BBC)
But is it true? Now US officials contend that it is not. (NYT 8-27-08) They say that 25 militants and 5 civilians were killed in airstrikes called in when "Afghan and American commandos came under heavy fire during a raid on the compound of a Taliban commander."(NYT 8-27-08)
The Afghans tell a different story and the UN believes them.
We found convincing evidence, based on the testimony of eyewitnesses and others, that some 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children," said a statement from the UN Special Representative for Afghanistan.
"This is a matter of grave concern to the United Nations," Kai Eide's statement went on, describing how the name, age and gender of the victims had been collected and "the destruction from aerial bombardment was clearly evident".
It is a strongly worded and scathing report aimed at US forces and based on interviews with local people.(BBC)
While officials won't comment publicly during the ongoing investigation, four "military and Pentagon officials" apparently agreed to speak to The New York Times on condition of anonymity. (NYT 8-27-08)
Though the UN says it has found convincing evidence of the higher death toll, the American officials say that they did not find any such evidence following the attack. (NYT 8-27-08) According to them, they saw women and children flee the compound before any fighting started and afterwards, combat photographers "documented the scene." (NYT 8-27-08)
One woman and one child who were wounded in the fighting were flown on American helicopters to receive medical attention, the Americans said.
The allied forces seized several dozen men in the compound, eventually releasing all but about half a dozen. There were no women or children left in the compound, American officials said. (NYT 8-27-08)
As the article says, this could be severely embarrassing if it turns out they are wrong. And not only embarrassing. As Alastair Leithead, stating the bleeding obvious, tells us:
Killing innocent people by accident in a counter-insurgency campaign is not only tragic, but is hugely detrimental to the objective - to win, not lose, hearts and minds.(BBC)
Meanwhile, the American officials have suggested that the Taliban deliberately use civilians as a shield (NYT 8-27-08).
Also in the meantime, the Taliban recently escalated their attacks on US bases.(NYT 8-19-2008) Just a week and a half ago, The New York Times reported:
Taliban insurgents mounted their most serious attacks in six years of fighting in Afghanistan over the last two days, including a coordinated assault by at least 10 suicide bombers against one of the largest American military bases in the country, and another by about 100 insurgents who killed 10 elite French paratroopers....
[T]he attacks were part of a sharp escalation in fighting as insurgents have seized a window of opportunity to press their campaign this summer — taking advantage of a wavering NATO commitment, an outgoing American administration, a flailing Afghan government and a Pakistani government in deep disarray that has given the militants freer rein across the border.
As a result, this year is on pace to be the deadliest in the Afghan war so far, as the insurgent attacks show rising zeal and sophistication. The insurgents are employing not only a growing number of suicide and roadside bombs, but are also waging increasingly well-organized and complex operations using multiple attackers with different types of weapons, NATO officials say.(NYT 8-19-2008)
Officials attribute the escalation partly to the "power vacuum" left in Pakistan when President Musharraf resigned. But there is an even more worrying aspect:
Pakistan’s military has agreed to a series of peace deals with the militants under which it stopped large-scale operations in the tribal areas in February, allowing the insurgents greater freedom to train, recruit and carry out attacks into Afghanistan.(NYT 8-19-2008)
The US has been pressuring allies to send troops and the increase in violence is apparently due in part to the Taliban's wish to discourage this. (NYT 8-19-2008) But the French, who were hard hit, are going to stay, according to Sarkozy. (NYT 8-19-2008)
The irate Afghan government has decided to review their agreements with allies. (NYT 8-26-08) They have a status-of-forces agreement with the UN-mandated forces from NATO, but not with the US-led coalition, its counterterrorism forces or the forces of Operation Enduring Freedom."(NYT 8-26-08) They are now seeking an agreement.
The ministers demanded a status of forces agreement, which would stipulate that the authority and responsibilities of international forces be negotiated, and they said that aerial bombing, illegal detentions and house raids by international forces must be stopped....
Heavy-handed bombing raids and house raids, which are seen as culturally unacceptable by many Afghans who guard their privacy fiercely, and the detention of hundreds of suspects for years without trial at the Bagram air base and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have stirred up Afghans’ strong independent streak and ancient dislike of invaders.
President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly called for foreign forces to coordinate operations with Afghan forces and local authorities, and for greater care to be used with airstrikes. In an interview in April, Mr. Karzai warned that civilian casualties were undermining the fight against terrorism, and he questioned, as many Afghans do, why Afghan villagers were under attack when the militants’ training camps in Pakistan were left untouched.
“The war against terrorism is not in Afghan villages,” he said. “The war against terrorism is elsewhere, and that’s where the war should go.”..(NYT 8-26-08).
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