Children killed in Afghan offensive

[IndianaGreen]

Source: Al Jazeera

Children killed in Afghan offensive

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

At least 10 Afghan civilians, mostly school children, have been killed in military operations by international forces in the east of the country, the office of Hamid Karzai, the president, has said.

The incident reportedly occurred on Sunday in a remote part of Kunar province on the border with Pakistan, the statement added.

"Initial reports indicate that in a series of operations by international forces in Kunar province... 10 civilians, eight of them school students, have been killed," the statement from Karzai's office said on Monday.

"It is a very rugged area, we cannot go there because of the presence of the Taliban," Sayed Fazlullah Wahedi, the Kunar state governor, said.

Karzai's office said that it would hold an investigation into the incident.

Afghanistan children killed 'during Western operation'

An unnamed Western official told AFP that US special forces had been conducting operations in the area, close to the border with Pakistan, and had killed and captured "a lot of Taliban".

He said the operations were being carried out independently of the Nato-led and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Remote

Civilian deaths at the hands of foreign troops have led to widespread anger among Afghans.

Mr Karzai has previously said such deaths are damaging to the fight against militancy.

The BBC's Peter Greste in Kabul says Kunar province is remote, snowbound and dominated by the Taliban, so the investigation into Saturday's alleged incident will be difficult.

But if the civilians deaths are confirmed, it will be a blow to Gen Stanley McChrystal, the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, who has vowed to limit such casualties, says our correspondent.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8432653.stm

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/12/200912281348623886.html

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Interesting that it is the Karzai regime that is the source for this story.

[Flaneur]

1. Nice. Recruiting the next terrorist plane bomber, I see.

[MetaTrope]

2. Hope we're smart enough to leave somebody alive to spread a carpet of rose petals

to greet our victorious troops.

[nosmokes]

3. One of them, no doubt, will 'prove' to be the #2 Al-Q in Afghanistan or Pakistan

I'm sure...

[Jamastiene]

13. They've been killing the #2 Al Qaeda over and over again for YEARS now.

It reminds me of a horror movie where the zombies just won't stay dead. They keep springing back to life, so we can kill them again and again.

I wonder if they'll use the same picture of the same guy yet again too.

[Thickasabrick]

4. Karzai should condemn this. This is horrific. 8 children and for what?? nt

[elocs]

5. Usually when you have children you tend to empathize when bad things happen to other children

because you can see it like it was happening to your own. When those U.S. soldiers raped and killed that 15 year old girl in Iraq and killed her family my own daughter was 15 and I saw that girl as her. Imagine children just being children and then the U.S. hand of death strikes them down by mistake. Collateral damage.

Barack Obama has young daughters. He must really, really believe in that war.

[madrchsod]

6. "hey,hey lbj..how many kids you kill today"

that chant effected him more than anything that was thrown at him by the anti war movement.

today the anti-war movement is silent.

[L0oniX]

7. Do ya still want to join the military? Be all the killer you can be!

[IndianaGreen]

8. LA Times: U.S. airstrike reportedly kills 10 Afghan civilians

U.S. airstrike reportedly kills 10 Afghan civilians

The incident allegedly took place Sunday in a remote area of Kunar province. President Hamid Karzai, who has harshly criticized such incidents, orders an investigation.

By Laura King

December 29, 2009

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan - An Afghan provincial governor said Monday that an apparent U.S. airstrike killed 10 Afghan civilians, and President Hamid Karzai -- who has harshly criticized such incidents -- ordered an immediate investigation.

If the reports are borne out, it would be the most serious instance of Western forces mistakenly killing Afghan civilians in months.

Civilian casualties at the hands of foreign forces have fallen off dramatically in the last six months, after Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, issued strict new rules of engagement limiting the use of force if noncombatants are thought to be in the area.

The alleged incident took place Sunday in a remote area of Kunar province, in Afghanistan's northeast. Tribal elders in the district of Narang first reported the deaths, and the Associated Press quoted provincial police as saying eight of those killed were youths. Karzai's office issued a brief statement condemning the deaths and promising an investigation, but it provided no details.

Civilian casualties have long been a sore point between the Karzai government and the Western military. McChrystal's directive was issued after a surge in deaths and injuries among noncombatants. The general told field commanders at the time that protecting civilian lives must be their top priority because in Afghanistan's tightknit tribal society, such casualties inflame anger against foreign troops, thus undermining their mission and bringing new recruits to the insurgency.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-afghan-deaths29-2009dec29,0,7513745.story

[IndianaGreen]

9. Here is CNN's report--bodycounting like we did in 'Nam

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan said Monday they are investigating reports that 10 Afghan civilians, including eight students, were killed Saturday in a coalition operation in the Narang district of Kunar province.

"We will definitely be looking into this," said Col. Wayne Shanks, International Security Assistance Force spokesman. "We take these sort of allegations very seriously."

Said Fazelayallah, governor of Kunar province, told CNN Monday that 10 civilians were killed. Coalition forces said they killed their military targets, he said, but a delegation sent by the governor to investigate reported the civilian casualties.

Shanks said that, from the top down, civilian casualties are of great concern to the coalition, whether they be from military or insurgent action.

Fazelayallah said the operation was launched without the knowledge of government officials in the province.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/12/28/afghanistan.deaths/index.html

[boppers]

10. From the beeb:

"An unnamed Western official told AFP that US special forces had been conducting operations in the area, close to the border with Pakistan, and had killed and captured "a lot of Taliban".
He said the operations were being carried out independently of the Nato-led and coalition forces in Afghanistan."

"But if the civilians deaths are confirmed, it will be a blow to Gen Stanley McChrystal, the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, who has vowed to limit such casualties, says our correspondent."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8432653.stm

McChrystal, who left SOCOM command for NATO command has got to be *pissed off* about this, and he knows exactly who to blame.

[AlphaCentauri]

11. How can this be explained?

[IndianaGreen]

12. As in Vietnam, the military is claiming x-number of 'enemy' dead

which upon closer examination turn out to be civilians, including children.

We have been down this path several times before.

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

14. For the record

there have been incidents in which the Taliban have executed children and placed them at the sites of missile strikes in order to give the appearance that they were killed in the strike. Doesn't hold up so well when you shoot the kids yet expect people to believe they were killed by a missile, but hey, it gets the headlines, doesn't it? I'm not saying that was necessarily the case in this instance, but it's reason enough to be cautious when these sorts of stories pop up.

Interesting to me that I've never seen you post a story about civilians blown up by the Taliban in suicide attacks. Surely someone as concerned with the lives of innocent civilians in this region is equally outraged by those acts.