U.S. Concedes Afghan Attack Mainly Killed Civilians

[spanone]

KABUL, Afghanistan — An airstrike by the United States-led military coalition killed 13 civilians and 3 militants last Tuesday in western Afghanistan, not “up to 15 militants” as was initially claimed by American forces, military officials here said Saturday.

The civilians killed included three children, six women and four men in the Gozara district of Herat Province, in addition to three people suspected of being Taliban fighters, according to an aide to the provincial governor.

American and NATO forces have come under increasing criticism from Afghans and political leaders in Kabul for the soaring number of civilians killed by airstrikes and fighting between Taliban and American-led forces.

The United Nations says civilian deaths rose nearly 40 percent last year to 2,118, the most in any year since the 2001 invasion that drove the Taliban from power. Most of the casualties last year were caused by the Taliban and other insurgents, the United Nations found, but 828 deaths were attributed to American, NATO and Afghan forces, mostly from airstrikes and village raids. Afghan officials fear the numbers will rise as more American troops deploy to the country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/world/asia/22afghan.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

[slipslidingaway]

1. K&R :( n/t

[MadHound]

2. One of the many reasons we need to pull out of Afghanistan

One of the many reason we're going to lose this war.

[spanone]

3. at least this administration admits mistakes.....i agree afghanistan is an american dead end policy

[MadHound]

4. Yet this administration is going to expand our presence there

Time to crank up the anti-war movement again.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. I'm so glad we're escalating ourselves there ......

:sarcasm:

[malaise]

6. So what's new

Big mistake President Obama.

[spanone]

8. the only new thing i see is the 'admission of a mistake' beyond that?

[L0oniX]

7. Of course ...that's what they are good at ...killing civilians. WTF is Osama?

Our military is a failure ...they can't hit the target! Oh yea there's always a good excuse for killing people who had nothing to do with 911 or anything else and that's a wonderful way to create more terrorists ...which I am beginning to think is what they want because it's a job security thing for the sociopath generals.

[acmavm]

9. I don't know how we can ever hope to 'win' anything in Afganistan, BUT

I just cannot see how we can abandon the women and children to the Taliban again.