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NATO causes more civilian deaths in Afghanistan

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At least 27 civilians died in a NATO air strike in southern Afghanistan, the Afghan cabinet says, revising downwards a prior statement that 33 were killed. NATO said it hit a suspected insurgent convoy, but ground forces later found “a number of individuals killed and wounded”, including women and children. Sunday’s attack, in Uruzgan province, was not part of a major NATO-led push in neighbouring Helmand province. Civilian deaths in strikes have caused widespread resentment in Afghanistan. Matthew Bell reports.

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MARCO WERMAN:  I’m Marco Werman and this is The World.  The Afghan government has condemned a NATO air strike over the weekend that killed at least 27 Afghan civilians.  NATO said it fired on what was believed to be a group of insurgents about to attack its troops.  The air strike was not part of the current offensive in southern Afghanistan but U.S. military commanders have said again and again that protecting Afghan civilians is a top priority and that incidents like the air strike yesterday undermined the overall mission.  The World’s Matthew Bell reports.

MATTHEW BELL:  The statement from the Afghan Cabinet said Sunday’s airstrike killed 27 civilians, including 4 women and a child and it wounded another 12 people.  Interior Ministry spokesman Zamari Bashari was asked how he could be sure that those killed were civilians, given the Taliban’s practice of blending in with the local population.

ZAMARI BASHARI:  Based on the information that we have got from police sources and those districts, they say that when they got to the area, they had found women, children and adults and they have not seen evidence of weapons and ammunitions.  Children and women could not be insurgents.

BELL:  He went on to say that international forces also acknowledged that what occurred on Sunday morning was a tragedy.  U.S. General Stanley McChrystal said in a statement, “we are extremely saddened by the tragic loss of innocent lives.  McChrystal said U.S. and NATO forces, also known as ISAF, are in Afghanistan to protect the Afghan people and inadvertently killing or injuring civilians undermines their trust and confidence in the mission.”  ISAF spokesman, Eric Tromblay, says McChrystal takes this issue very seriously.  That’s why he changed the rules of engagement last year to limit civilian deaths and injuries and that’s why he keeps talking about it to the media and to his troops.

STANLEY McCHRYSTAL:  I think it’s one of those things, in a very complex [INDISCERNIBLE] where you need to constantly beat the drum and inform and educate and bring to bear the importance of building that trust and confidence and therefore needing to minimize as much as possible, civilian casualties.”

BELL:  As tragic as the results of yesterday’s airstrike seem to be, Sarah Holewinski says the U.S. military is doing a better job on this.  Holewinski is with the Washington-based Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict.  She says accounts from the U.S. led offensive going on right now in Marja, in Southern Afghanistan, attest to that.

SARAH HOLEWINSKI:  Soldiers on the ground are telling us you know, look, we’re restricting our air power.  We’re going in on foot.  We are shooting only when we know that that other combatant is carrying a gun so we’re trying to distinguish as clearly as possible between civilians and combatants and then when an incident actually does happen, they are very quick to do an investigation and then pay compensation and say look, we’re going to rebuild here and that’s something that we haven’t seen in past years.

BELL:  Holewinski says the changes came last summer when General McChrystal issued his new directive on using force and since then, civilian deaths by international forces have dropped by about 30%.  Military historian, Andrew Bacevich of Boston University, is a critic of escalating U.S. involvement in Afghanistan but he says there’s little doubt that U.S. commanders, to their credit, no longer simply view success as killing the enemy.

ANDREW BACEVICH:  Rather than fighting battles, they declared their purpose to be one of securing the people and then delivering a package of goods and services, you know, under the rubric of good governance.

BELL:  On Saturday, Afghan President Hamad Karzai drew attention to the issue of civilian casualties during a speech to the Parliament.  Karzai did give credit to NATO forces for doing their best, but he also held up a photo of a young Afghan girl from Marja said to have lost 12 family members in an errant rocket attack.  Karzai said Allied forces fighting the Taliban must re-double their efforts to avoid killing Afghan civilians.  For The World, I’m Matthew Bell.

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