Continuing civilian toll in Afghanistan poses dilemma for U.S.
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, April 22, 2010
WASHINGTON — Taliban fighters in Afghanistan killed nearly three times more civilians than U.S. and NATO forces last year. But, in a war of perceptions, it’s the International Security Assistance Force that’s scrambling to prove it’s doing everything possible not to kill innocent bystanders.
On Wednesday, NATO forces acknowledged that they gunned down four civilians whose car traveled too close to a military patrol in Khost province, further inflaming tensions in the country. The incident came a week after U.S. soldiers fired on a civilian commuter bus outside Kandahar, killing four Afghan civilians and wounding 18 others, triggering a wave of anti-American protests throughout Afghanistan’s major cities.
The top United Nations envoy in Afghanistan called the bus incident part of a “disturbing trend” of civilian casualties during recent international military operations. On April 6, four civilians were killed in a firefight between insurgents and NATO forces. And in February, a night raid on a family compound outside Gardez by U.S. Special Forces resulted in the deaths of five civilians, including two pregnant women,a teenage girl, a local police chief and his brother.
“All efforts must be undertaken to ensure
is reversed,” said Staffan de Mistura, head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
Still more controversy about civilian deaths in Afghanistan is looming. Wikileaks, a whistleblower Web site that posts sensitive government and corporate documents, is promising to soon release a video of the controversial bombing last May of a compound in Farah province, where U.S. officials acknowledge 30 civilians were killed but U.N. officials have estimated more than 90 civilian deaths. ... http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=69505
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