At least 20 Afghan civilians killed in airstrike: officials

[rooster59]

At least 20 Afghan civilians killed in airstrike: officials

By Ahmad Sultan

 

ASADABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - At least 20 Afghan civilians, including 12 children, were killed in an airstrike targeting a Taliban commander in the eastern province of Kunar late on Friday, local officials said.

 

The strike, against local Taliban commander Sharif Mawiya, was the latest in a series targeting senior insurgents, including the shadow governor of the strategic southern province of Helmand, who was killed on Dec. 2.

 

Several Taliban military commanders have been killed this month by Afghan forces, backed by U.S. advisers and air power.

 

The tactic has raised the risk of civilian casualties and Abdul Latif Fazly, a member of the provincial council, said eight women and 12 children were killed and more than 15 others wounded in Friday's airstrike.

 

However a spokeswoman for the NATO-led Resolute Support mission denied that there were civilian deaths, although she said some civilians were wounded.

 

"The Taliban continue to use civilians as shields and barricade themselves inside compounds while engaging the Afghan forces," said Debra Richardson of Resolute Support.

 

She said U.S. airstrikes were supporting the new Afghan army strategy of targeting the entire Taliban organisation, from low level fighters to high ranking leaders.

 

"We have reports over 40 Taliban fighters were killed in the Afghan-led operations, supported by U.S. air strikes in Kunar province," said Richardson.

 

Kunar governor Abdul Satar Mirzakwal said an operation by Afghan forces in Sheltan district killed 38 Taliban and al Qaeda members, including four foreign nationals, and wounded 12 more. He said the operation targeted Sharif Mawiya, a commander believed to be a facilitator with Al Qaeda militants.

 

He said an unknown number of civilians were hit in the strike but had no casualty details.

 

"We know that a number of civilians, including women and children have been killed but we are sending a fact finding team," he said.

 

The number of Afghan civilians killed in U.S. and Afghan airstrikes has risen sharply this year as Western-backed forces have stepped up aerial operations with the aim of forcing the Taliban to agree to peace talks.

 

According to United Nations figures, 313 civilians were killed and 336 wounded in airstrikes by U.S. and Afghan forces in the nine months to the end of September, a 39 per cent increase from the same period in 2017.

 

Airstrike casualties accounted for eight percent of the total 8,050 civilian casualties during the period. The overall number of civilian casualties was roughly stable.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-12-16

[thaiguzzi]

And there you have it......

Reason number 584,945 why there will be another new 20 orphans and 20 new future terrorists.

The war on terror, just like the war on drugs will never be won and both are unjustifiable wars.

Still, someone is getting rich out of all this.

US armaments industries, like they have since WW II.............

Quite sickening really.

[robblok]

56 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

And there you have it......

Reason number 584,945 why there will be another new 20 orphans and 20 new future terrorists.

The war on terror, just like the war on drugs will never be won and both are unjustifiable wars.

Still, someone is getting rich out of all this.

US armaments industries, like they have since WW II.............

Quite sickening really.

Your right about that violence breeds violence and all the racism has pushed people into the arms of terrorists. However doing nothing is not really an option too not that i pretend to know what should be done as this is a really tough subject.

 

I saw an Israeli TV series and it demonstrated quite well how violence breeds violence and sucks more and more people in. However you also cannot ignore them and do nothing.. NOt a nice choice at all. 

[Prissana Pescud]

45 minutes ago, robblok said:

Your right about that violence breeds violence and all the racism has pushed people into the arms of terrorists. However doing nothing is not really an option too not that i pretend to know what should be done as this is a really tough subject.

 

I saw an Israeli TV series and it demonstrated quite well how violence breeds violence and sucks more and more people in. However you also cannot ignore them and do nothing.. NOt a nice choice at all. 

You can leave them alone, grab your back packs and go home.

This crazy war has cost thousands of foreign military invaders lives and killed millions of Afghan civilians.

For what. The task was to exterminate Bin Laden. That was achieved. Mission accomplished.

There is no national security reason to the west to have no effective military stay. They are creating

new problems and have failed to fix old ones. So pack up and leave.

No country has ever defeated Afghanistan, no one ever will. 

It is not a useless mindless war anymore, it is just mindless murder.

[Srikcir]

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

At least 20 Afghan civilians, including 12 children, were killed in an airstrike

Did NATO outsource to Saudi Arabia for bombing in Afghanistan?

SA has a lot of experience in Yemen with causing mortal civilian collateral damage.

[Guest Jerry787]

The tactic has raised the risk of civilian casualties 
not human (children, women, men, young people, elderly)  killed by the horror of wars..... by human greed of power ... 

we shall ban the term civilian casualties !

[Nigel Garvie]

22 hours ago, Prissana Pescud said:

You can leave them alone, grab your back packs and go home.

This crazy war has cost thousands of foreign military invaders lives and killed millions of Afghan civilians.

For what. The task was to exterminate Bin Laden. That was achieved. Mission accomplished.

There is no national security reason to the west to have no effective military stay. They are creating

new problems and have failed to fix old ones. So pack up and leave.

No country has ever defeated Afghanistan, no one ever will. 

It is not a useless mindless war anymore, it is just mindless murder.

Wow, THAT easy.  "No country has ever defeated Afghanistan"........sorry the west etc is not fighting Afghanistan, they are trying to assist the elected leaders of the country to defend themselves against the Taliban. This unspeakably foul organization is funded through and supported by ISI in the failed state of Pakistan. The money came from the US initially and the head choppers in Saudi Arabia. The ideals are those of the Salafi Sunnis of Saudi Arabia whose twisted religious doctrines have been exported round the globe using the money we pay for oil. This same doctrine inspired Daesh (IS). If you are a woman in Afghanistan  the prospect of being treated like scum by the world champion misogynists of the Taliban would not excite you.

Is the problem easy..........no way. What is the answer.... it would take a long time for many very clever experts in the field to agree on one. Is that a good reason for running away and leaving the country in the hands of sick religious extremists, and as a client state of Pakistan? IMHO no.

[Prissana Pescud]

31 minutes ago, Nigel Garvie said:

Wow, THAT easy.  "No country has ever defeated Afghanistan"........sorry the west etc is not fighting Afghanistan, they are trying to assist the elected leaders of the country to defend themselves against the Taliban. This unspeakably foul organization is funded through and supported by ISI in the failed state of Pakistan. The money came from the US initially and the head choppers in Saudi Arabia. The ideals are those of the Salafi Sunnis of Saudi Arabia whose twisted religious doctrines have been exported round the globe using the money we pay for oil. This same doctrine inspired Daesh (IS). If you are a woman in Afghanistan  the prospect of being treated like scum by the world champion misogynists of the Taliban would not excite you.

Is the problem easy..........no way. What is the answer.... it would take a long time for many very clever experts in the field to agree on one. Is that a good reason for running away and leaving the country in the hands of sick religious extremists, and as a client state of Pakistan? IMHO no.

1. They are not duly elected leaders, they are puppets installed by the US. Did Afghans vote before they were invaded by US?

2. The Taliban rules most of the country already despite the US war machine.

3. Taliban is not funded by ISIS, they have existed for decades before the US created ISIS.

4. Pakistan is not a failed state, both US and China donate liberally.

5. Your apparent hysteria lacks fundamental historical and current facts.

6. Too many western invaders have decided how to run this country. The US has failed in many attempts to subvert the will of

the people around the world. Vietnam, Iraq and south american countries quickly spring to mind. Abject failures all of them.

And the US and allies killed in these useless invasions is millions. For absolutely nothing except the US arms industry.

 Time to call it quits on this, another failed invasion. 

[bristolboy]

17 minutes ago, Prissana Pescud said:

1. They are not duly elected leaders, they are puppets installed by the US. Did Afghans vote before they were invaded by US?

2. The Taliban rules most of the country already despite the US war machine.

3. Taliban is not funded by ISIS, they have existed for decades before the US created ISIS.

4. Pakistan is not a failed state, both US and China donate liberally.

5. Your apparent hysteria lacks fundamental historical and current facts.

6. Too many western invaders have decided how to run this country. The US has failed in many attempts to subvert the will of

the people around the world. Vietnam, Iraq and south american countries quickly spring to mind. Abject failures all of them.

And the US and allies killed in these useless invasions is millions. For absolutely nothing except the US arms industry.

 Time to call it quits on this, another failed invasion. 

"Your apparent hysteria lacks fundamental historical and current facts."

I think this comment better applies to you. Any claim you might have to being knowledgeable about the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan is severely undermined by the fact that you don't even what ISI is.

Edited December 17, 2018 by bristolboy

[DM07]

8 women and 12 children?!

Hmmmmm...I wonder why, there are so may terrorists and so much hate against the "greatest democracy on Earth"....

I can't quiet figure it out!

I guess, it will remain a mystery!

????

[Nigel Garvie]

2 hours ago, Prissana Pescud said:

1. They are not duly elected leaders, they are puppets installed by the US. Did Afghans vote before they were invaded by US?

2. The Taliban rules most of the country already despite the US war machine.

3. Taliban is not funded by ISIS, they have existed for decades before the US created ISIS.

4. Pakistan is not a failed state, both US and China donate liberally.

5. Your apparent hysteria lacks fundamental historical and current facts.

6. Too many western invaders have decided how to run this country. The US has failed in many attempts to subvert the will of

the people around the world. Vietnam, Iraq and south american countries quickly spring to mind. Abject failures all of them.

And the US and allies killed in these useless invasions is millions. For absolutely nothing except the US arms industry.

 Time to call it quits on this, another failed invasion. 

1) Google Afghanistan elections, and as self serving as the US foreign policy has been, not every leader in the world is an American puppet.

2) By land area possibly, not by population, the so called US war machine is only partially engaged. 

3) 4) 5) already answered, if you don't know what ISI is, then your views on anything related to Pakistan are meaningless. However anti US you may be you cannot blame them for everything, creating ISIS is Alice in Wonderland stuff with a huge helping of mushrooms.

6) I am not American, I marched in London in the late 60s in support of Ho Chi Minh and against the Imperialist US intervention. I agree with what you say about Iraq and South America, Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine is require reading for anyone who wants to understand the true sickness of US foreign policy at the time. However please try to avoid getting carried away with self righteous indignation and talk facts. An intervention or a subversion is not an invasion

The half cooked liberalism of the US left is exactly what helped the most vile president ever, Trump, to be Elected