Nato Airstrike Kills At Least 15 Civilians In Eastern Afghanistan

[News_Editor]

NATO airstrike kills at least 15 civilians in eastern Afghanistan < br />

2012-06-07 02:10:54 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- At least fifteen civilians were killed on early Wednesday morning when the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) carried out an airstrike in eastern Afghanistan, triggering a protest by residents living in the area, local officials said.

ISAF said the incident happened in the Baraki Barak district of Logar province during an operation to detain a local Taliban leader. "During the operation, insurgents attacked the Afghan and coalition troops with small-arms fire and a grenade," the multi-national force said in a statement. "The security force returned fire and requested a precision airstrike."

Provincial officials said at least fifteen civilians were killed in the ISAF airstrike, but other officials said as many as eighteen civilians were killed, including seven children, five women and six men. ISAF acknowledged two civilian women were injured in the airstrike and were taken to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries.

"We are aware of the reports coming out of Logar describing the tragic death of a number of Afghan civilians," an ISAF spokesperson said after reports of civilian casualties emerged. "ISAF goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties in all its operations and takes each claim of civilian casualties very seriously. This incident is no different."

The alliance said multiple insurgents were also killed during the operation but gave no specific number. The Taliban leader targeted is accused of participating in attacks against Afghan and coalition forces throughout Logar province. He is also accused of commanding multiple insurgents and acquiring weapons for use in insurgent attacks.

Some Afghan officials claimed the insurgents may have been hiding near or in the houses of Afghan civilians when they were approached by coalition forces.

Following the deadly airstrike, residents in the affected area went to Pul-i-Alam where they protested in front of the governor's office. The protesters were carrying the bodies of the victims and chanted slogans such as "death to America", "death to the Afghan government", "death to [Afghan president] Hamid Karzai" and "death to [u.S. President] Barack Obama."

Last month, at least 20 civilians were killed when coalition forces carried out two separate airstrikes in the southern and northwestern regions of Afghanistan. In one of the incidents, an ISAF helicopter targeted a militant hideout in Helmand province but accidentally struck a residential house, killing a family.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-06-07

[Colin Yai]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8519507.stm How does any one know that the "civilians" were not "human shields" this vile practice along with grooming 8 year old kids to act as suicide bombers is just part and parcel of what the Taliban view as "acceptable" in their war against not only the Infidel but their own people too, as the Taliban kill far more "civilians" than the allied forces , the link says it all . Edited June 6, 2012 by Colin Yai

[Yunla]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8519507.stm How does any one know that the "civilians" were not "human shields" this vile practice along with grooming 8 year old kids to act as suicide bombers is just part and parcel of what the Taliban view as "acceptable" in their war against not only the Infidel but their own people too, as the Taliban kill far more "civilians" than the allied forces , the link says it all .

The Taliban are relatively sophisticated when it comes to information-warfare, and turning the western media against the western leaders. I have also heard it discussed that people who are awaiting death-sentence from the Taliban are used as shields. Either way its a tragic waste of human life. And the division in local peoples' hearts-and-minds grows ever wider.

[Colin Yai]

http://www.guardian....children-murder Yunla ,let me write quite plainly, the Taliban have about as many morals as a cockroach ,there is an absolute welter of information (if one cares to look) to back this up ,the link above is just one of the many , and yet when Nato forces kill civilians which could well be planted there as Human shields , Many in the west wring their hands and Shout from the rooftops about the activities of Nato without really exploring the Crux of the problem ,OK many say (rightly IMHO) we should not be there in the first place ,problem here is we are ain't we sacrificing our young men for seemingly no purpose ,this is a "dirty war" and people should accept just that for what it is. Edited June 7, 2012 by Colin Yai

[Yunla]

Colin, I agree with you on the Taliban, they also burn down schools and forbid girls to read books etc. and have held a blanket of fear across the entire land for so many decades. They are guilty of crimes which are forbidden by the 'rules of war', as are the western troops in some cases. They are however native to that land and the foreign troops that are unfortunately still there are not.

I think it was correct for the US to pursue Bin Laden in Afghanistan and Pakistan, after 911. However I think the nation-building thing has wasted a lot of lives and money. Our precious Hamid Karzai who we have funded and pampered, was brother of the country's largest heroin trafficker and has also freed prominent drug dealers from jail. If anything our support of him is making the problems in that country worse. Sometimes it is better to walk away and leave it to the local people to build their own society along their own lines.

Edited June 7, 2012 by Yunla

[Colin Yai]

Yeah Yunla I could not agree any more, however there could well be a problem, suppose when the Allied forces leave and the Taliban take over Afghanistan what then?,the "bleeding heart" brigade could well proclaim "look what they've done"!, abandoned these poor people to the tender mercy's of the Taliban , bit of a "damned if the do and damned if they don't" situation eh.

[Yunla]

Yeah Yunla I could not agree any more, however there could well be a problem, suppose when the Allied forces leave and the Taliban take over Afghanistan what then?,the "bleeding heart" brigade could well proclaim "look what they've done"!, abandoned these poor people to the tender mercy's of the Taliban , bit of a "damned if the do and damned if they don't" situation eh.

"Tough love" is the only kind of love that you will thank people for in the future.

[KeyserSoze01]

Can someone remind me why allied troops are still in Afghanistan?

[Credo]

The country is a mess, has been a mess and will be a mess for a very long time. We can no longer build a country or instill democracy than we can teach a 1 year old to run a marathon. As fast as we can build, the opponents can destroy.

The goal of making sure that AQ or other terrorist groups do not re-establish training camps should be the sole goal at this point. With Bin Laden dead and AQ crippled, this should fall mostly on the intelligence services, not the military. Military action to support the goal needs to be quick and surgical.

Humanitarian assistance needs to be given to ensure that the seeds of progress are planted, but reliance on such aid needs to be discouraged.

The press will periodically pick up a story about the abuse and misuse of women and many will wring their hands and cry for intervention to 'save them'. We cannot save them from themselves. These stories are sad, however, they are not significantly different that what happens in our own countries.

[Credo]

Can someone remind me why allied troops are still in Afghanistan?

It had terrorist training camps.

[geriatrickid]

Humanitarian assistance needs to be given to ensure that the seeds of progress are planted, but reliance on such aid needs to be discouraged.

Humanitarian assistance cannot be given unless the aid workers are protected. NGOs make repeated requests for assistance. Please remove the landmines, or please protect our aid convoy, or please help us build a school or please protect the school from being burnt down etc. As the number of personnel continues to diminish, these aid groups end up dumping the aid and running seeing most of it pilfered or paying protection to the local tribes to get some aid through.

Unfortunately, attempting to assist the Afghanis lift themselves out of the dirt doesn't seem to be working. Perhaps it is attributable to local fears, or more likely intimidation. It seems that the bad guys have won for now. All eyes can look to Pakistan for the reason why.

[folium]

Humanitarian assistance needs to be given to ensure that the seeds of progress are planted, but reliance on such aid needs to be discouraged.

Humanitarian assistance cannot be given unless the aid workers are protected. NGOs make repeated requests for assistance. Please remove the landmines, or please protect our aid convoy, or please help us build a school or please protect the school from being burnt down etc. As the number of personnel continues to diminish, these aid groups end up dumping the aid and running seeing most of it pilfered or paying protection to the local tribes to get some aid through.

Unfortunately, attempting to assist the Afghanis lift themselves out of the dirt doesn't seem to be working. Perhaps it is attributable to local fears, or more likely intimidation. It seems that the bad guys have won for now. All eyes can look to Pakistan for the reason why.

It's the classic dilemma of "no security without development; no development without security".

Afghanistan similarly suffers from an impossibility for "peacekeeping" as there is no peace to keep, so it requires a fighting force to make peace, which inflames the situation and stirs up nationalistic/religious/ethnic tensions which prevents peace from being achieved.

"Nation building" also presents massive issues as there is barely a nation to be built, more a patchwork of tribal areas, historically/ethnically and religiously divided. You also have the majority Pushtun population divided between Afghan and Pakistan due to the summarily imposed and still not wholly delineated Durand Line, done by the Brits in 1893 (see map below).

It's a tragic mess with no simple solutions now or in the years to come. Sadly Afghanistan will probably be a failed state for decades and will slip off the radar screens of the rest of the world as it will be filed in the "too difficult" tray unless AQ or others repopulate the area.

This incident reflects the unpopularity of the war as the initial incident of elements of local Taliban leadership being cornered by SF (Afghan and ISAF apparently) and being hit by air support which appears to have also caused civilian casualties, is largely overlooked and the focus and headlines are on the civilian casualties. Tactical victory becomes strategic defeat, ie a mini-Tet.

Whether or not the Taliban were using civilians deliberately, war is always a dirty business and counter-insurgency will always cause "eggs" to be broken, the trick is breaking as few "eggs" as possible. Given the lack of support/understanding for this war most home audiences have little tolerance for such collateral damage.

Edited June 7, 2012 by folium

[Credo]

The large scale NGO operations rely on the military. Humanitarian aid would have to be scaled back significantly and done with what is manageable without all the other things usually involved. We need to do what we can, not what we want to do.

[folium]

The large scale NGO operations rely on the military. Humanitarian aid would have to be scaled back significantly and done with what is manageable without all the other things usually involved. We need to do what we can, not what we want to do.

"no security without development; no development without security"

A recent good news story from Afghanistan but also one that underlines the perils faced by NGOs operating in Afghanistan.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/sas-frees-uk-hostage-in-daring-afghan-raid-7813548.html

Edited June 7, 2012 by folium

[Colin Yai]

Humanitarian assistance needs to be given to ensure that the seeds of progress are planted, but reliance on such aid needs to be discouraged.

Humanitarian assistance cannot be given unless the aid workers are protected. NGOs make repeated requests for assistance. Please remove the landmines, or please protect our aid convoy, or please help us build a school or please protect the school from being burnt down etc. As the number of personnel continues to diminish, these aid groups end up dumping the aid and running seeing most of it pilfered or paying protection to the local tribes to get some aid through.

Unfortunately, attempting to assist the Afghanis lift themselves out of the dirt doesn't seem to be working. Perhaps it is attributable to local fears, or more likely intimidation. It seems that the bad guys have won for now. All eyes can look to Pakistan for the reason why.

You make a very valid point GK ,which should be taken on board by all members ,as we all know (or should know ) the fate that some humanitarian groups have met on the flimsiest excuse,s like distributing Bibles! ,it's somewhat difficult to help any one who's idea's were formed before the Spanish inquisition and are still here now to this day .

[Colin Yai]

The large scale NGO operations rely on the military. Humanitarian aid would have to be scaled back significantly and done with what is manageable without all the other things usually involved. We need to do what we can, not what we want to do.

"no security without development; no development without security"

A recent good news story from Afghanistan but also one that underlines the perils faced by NGOs operating in Afghanistan.

http://www.independe...id-7813548.html

Thanks for the link Folium ,it just goes to show you the thankless jobs these marvelous people perform, often at great risk to their own safety .

[folium]

The large scale NGO operations rely on the military. Humanitarian aid would have to be scaled back significantly and done with what is manageable without all the other things usually involved. We need to do what we can, not what we want to do.

"no security without development; no development without security"

A recent good news story from Afghanistan but also one that underlines the perils faced by NGOs operating in Afghanistan.

http://www.independe...id-7813548.html

Thanks for the link Folium ,it just goes to show you the thankless jobs these marvelous people perform, often at great risk to their own safety .

Are you talking about the NGO folk or SF, or both?

[Colin Yai]

The large scale NGO operations rely on the military. Humanitarian aid would have to be scaled back significantly and done with what is manageable without all the other things usually involved. We need to do what we can, not what we want to do.

"no security without development; no development without security"

A recent good news story from Afghanistan but also one that underlines the perils faced by NGOs operating in Afghanistan.

http://www.independe...id-7813548.html

Thanks for the link Folium ,it just goes to show you the thankless jobs these marvelous people perform, often at great risk to their own safety .

Are you talking about the NGO folk or SF, or both?

Good question Folium , I was just about to edit my post when I saw yours ,Yeah there is no doubt whatsoever our service men deserved the highest accolade ,having said that being I'm a bit "old fashioned" IMHO the real brave people are those who walk into the "dragons den" armed only with love and compassion for their fellow men , irrespective of religion or gender.