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| Scene of NATO attack in Helmland yesterday |
NATO said on Saturday that it has launched an investigation to probe an air raid attack that left 'a handful' of Afghan civilians dead and injured in Afghanistan 's Helmand province, some 555 km south of the capital city Kabul.
"During an International Security Assistance Force operation to kill or capture a senior Taliban commander, Afghan civilians were accidentally killed and wounded in Now Zad district, Helmand province yesterday,"the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement released here Saturday.
Without giving the exact number of civilian fatalities, the statement said that ISAF Joint Command is launching a joint incident assessment team to investigate the incident.
"The incident occurred when the ISAF personnel called in an airstrike on two vehicles 'believed to be carrying the Taliban leader and his associates based on intelligence reporting',aid the statement. Standard spin for the carnage they create. The NATO 'investigation' will disappear into the same black hole as all the other 'investigations'.
Two women, two men and three children are the victims according to local reports.
ReplyDeleteI still don't have an answer for why the U.S. at least acknowledges Afghan casualties, but not Pakistani casualties. Everyone knows U.S. forces already operate in Pakistan's airspace and on the ground. So why, if Washington admits the need to apologize for Afghan deaths, is it disinclined to apologize to Pakistanis? I want to get a real answer from U.S. officials on this inconsistency.
ReplyDeleteI think it's because those incidents are murkier and less reported and the military make the calculation that they are more likely to get away with it in Pakistan. Generally speaking they get away with it in both countries.
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