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NATO airstrike kills Afghan children - Karzai
Published: 10 February, 2012, 02:39
Edited: 10 February, 2012, 11:28
A pilot waves from the cockpit of a US F16 fighter jet as he taxis after returning to Bagram air base after flying a mission (AFP Photo / Bonny Schoonakker)
TAGS: Children, Military, NATO, Afghanistan, Yulia Shapovalova, War
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has accused NATO of killing eight children in an air strike on the country's territory. The incident adds to the already strained relationship between Afghanistan and its Western allies.
“President Hamid Karzai strongly condemns the aerial bombing by foreign troops that killed a number of children in Nejrab district,” his office said in a statement on Thursday.
The Afghan leader has assigned a delegation to launch an all-out probe into the NATO bombing, which took place in the province of Kapisa on Wednesday.
NATO confirmed that “there has been a situation.”
“A joint assessment team went there to identify the situation,” a spokesman for the alliance said.
Abdul Hamid Erkin, police chief of Kapisa district, where the attack occurred, told Agence-France-Presse that foreign special forces carried out a raid on a house in Geyawa village in Nejrab district two nights ago.
“The next morning their plane carried out an airstrike on a house in the village, as a result of which seven children and one adult were martyred,” he added.
Seven of the victims were children aged between seven and 15, he said, adding that the adult was a 20-year-old mentally-handicapped person.
According to Erkin, commanders of the French troops who control the area claimed that they were targeting Taliban facilitators. But checks by local police could prove no Taliban presence there.
“In fact, the people in the area have very strong anti-Taliban feelings. We filmed the victims, who were children, and showed it to the French commanders,” Agence-France Presse reports citing the police chief.
This comes a week after the United States announced that it could halt combat operations in Afghanistan earlier than expected.
Civilian deaths keep rising
Documentary film-maker Clay Claiborne told RT that despite condemnation from the Afghan president civilian casualties will continue to rise.
“Unfortunately, because the US is planning the pullout and because the French are moving their troops out, we can expect more airstrikes and more civilian casualties in Afghanistan.”
Claiborne describes Hamid Karzai is a “tool of American occupation.” “We can’t expect any real demand for change from him,” he stated.
Last week the United Nations released a report stating there had been a rise in civilian casualties in Afghanistan from 2,790 in 2010 to 3,021 in 2011. It noted that most deaths were caused by insurgents.
But investigative journalist and historian Gareth Porter believes the UN is not doing a responsible job tracking the civilian casualties that are the result of night raids by US special operations forces.
“They have basically taken the position that they cannot question what’s going on in that program because they can’t get any information about it,” he said in an interview with RT.
Citing the official US data the journalist pointed out that about 1,500 civilians were killed in 2010 alone in situations related to night raids.
Watch RT's full interview with Gareth Porter
09.02, 23:26
3 comments
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8 comments
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Safa Rahimi wrote in#8
To LDR_ONE:
First of all, "Mistakes happen, it's tragic"? What an insensitive calculation. The killing of innocent children is not a 'tragedy' it's brutal, inhumane, unnecessary murder. Their death was not inevitable. With the training and equipment that is at their disposal, it should go without saying that Nato must avoid 'mistakes'. However, these mistakes seem to plague Nato operations in Afghanistan, which makes one question as to whether they are mistakes at all.
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No, I stand by what I said. It was a tragic mistake. The aircraft was not dispatched to kill children, it was dispatched to provide air support for ISAF soldiers in the area. The children were killed during an engagement vs insurgents. Since its safe to say the children were not in the cockpit of the fighter, we know that they were likely in the proximity of the insurgents. Which would fit the Taliban tactic of hiding among civilians.
Maybe you better understand the war the Taliban are waging. Its not a tactical one or a military one, its an emotional one. If they erode support for the ISAF they gain support for themselves. Dead kids will do that. Getting a NATO bomber to mistakenly bomb a civilian area is a victory for the Taliban and a defeat for the ISAF. In a war, its rare for 1 side to have all the victories. We dont hear about ISAF victories (times they killed insurgents without harming the population). We only hear about their defeats (times they made mistakes and innocents died), so its easy to say they are always killing.
Oh, and I think you need to understand one thing: People in the west arent bloodthirsty. I will bet everything i have, that, if you could take the pilot of that bomber and give him the chance to re-run the mission with the knowledge he has now, he would do everything he could to not bomb the children. Whats done is done, but please, dont confuse tragedies with intentional actions.
To LDR_ONE:
I want to clarify that I am not attacking you in anyway. I just wish to address some of the points you have made against me, and correct them.
Firstly, I did not imply in any way that I believe the West to be 'bloodthirsty'. By highlighting the increasing number of civilian casualties, including these children, who were completely innocent and in no way affiliated with insurgents or the Taliban, I'm simply noting the failures of Nato/Isaf in their strategy and operations. This attack on children is amongst dozens Nato has been involved in, and it will not be the last. Their intention may not have been to kill civilians, but the reality of the situation is that they did, and they will continue to do so. Furthermore, if the Taliban, as you say, were hiding amongst these children, then where are they? Why were their bodies not discovered. Perhaps it was because, as noted in the article, there was no Taliban presence in the town, and the people themselves were against the Taliban. Given these facts, one must question as to why Nato would launch such attacks? Perhaps you had best answer these questions before you simply conclude that the whole incident was a 'mistake'.
Secondly, how can you possibly say that the Taliban are not waging a tactical and military war? Is not the opening of an office in Qatar considered tactical? Is not their constant attacks on civilians and Nato/Isaf military? Their existence depends solely on their miliary and tactical strategies. If they were to only use 'emotional' means, they would have been destroyed when America invaded the country and civilian support sided with Nato.
Thirdly, the Taliban did not 'get' a 'Nato bomber to mistakenly bomb a civilian area', Nato themselves were responsible for thier own ineptitute and murder. It's safe to say that with the accumulation of civilian murders, night rades, the desecration of deceased civilians' bodies as well as the desecration of Holy Texts, Nato/Isaf need no help to lose support amongst Afghans. Also, thus far, the failures of Nato greatly outweigh ther successes, so I don't believe there is anyway they can redeem themselves in the eyes of Afghans. As such, they need to leave. I, and many other Afghans, can no longer tolerate the senseless murder of our people and the destruction of our country. Nato must leave, there is no other option to gaining peace in Afghanistan.