Tags : afghanistan
NATO Airstrike Kills Dozens In Afghanistan
Konduz, Afghanistan (AHN) – NATO has begun a probe into reports that Afghan civilians died in northern Afghanistan Friday morning, when an airstrike was launched against militants.
The International Security Assistance Force said it carried the strike in Konduz Province after the Konduz Operational Command Center reported that insurgents had stolen two fuel trucks the previous night.
“After ISAF observed the insurgent activity and assessed civilians were not in the area, a local ISAF commander authorized an airstrike,” a statement. “A large number of insurgents were reported killed or injured and the fuel trucks were destroyed in the attack.”
Several reports cite Afghan officials as saying a number of civilians were also killed. NATO said it is investigating the reports together with local officials.
The allegations come the same week as NATO and U.S. commander Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s assessment that the Afghan war is in “serious” jeopardy and needs a revised strategy.
Public support for the eight-year war in the United States has ebbed, and calls for a timetable for troop withdrawal is increasing.
A joint Afghan-U.S. probe in February had confirmed that a coalition air strike in Afghanistan’s Heart province had killed 13 civilians.
In May, the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed reports that raids by American 8 forces in the western province of Farah had killed noncombatants, including women and children. McChrystal soon after this controversy replaced Army Gen. David McKiernan as the commander of coalition and American forces.
There are currently 57,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, 28,850 of which are in NATO’s ISAF. President Barack Obama in March ordered 21,000 more troops to be deployed to Afghanistan, and said the mission would now include training and increasing the size of the Afghan Army to 134,000, and the local police force to 82,000 by 2011.
Related posts:
