60 children, 15 women and 15 men were killed in NATO bombing raid on Afganistan

[Heathen Hammer]

Tensions increased today between Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, and US and Nato troops, with the government ordering a review of foreign military activities amid claims that dozens of civilians have died in raids and air strikes over the past week.

The ministries of foreign affairs and defence said they would seek to regulate raids with a status of forces agreement and a negotiated end to "air strikes on civilian targets, uncoordinated house searches and illegal detention of Afghan civilians".

The UN mission in Afghanistan has backed the government. Afghan and foreign soldiers entered the village of Nawabad in Shindand district last Friday and called in air strikes, villagers told UN investigators.

The UN special envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said in a statement that an investigation "found convincing evidence, based on the testimony of eyewitnesses and others, that some 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children, 15 women and 15 men. Fifteen other villagers were wounded.

"The destruction from aerial bombardment was clearly evident with seven to eight houses having been destroyed, with serious damage to many others," Eide said. "Local residents were able to confirm the number of casualties, including names, age and gender of the victims.

"This is matter of grave concern to the United Nations. I have repeatedly made clear that the safety and welfare of civilians must be considered above all else during the planning and conduct of all military operations.

"The impact of such operations undermines the trust and confidence of the Afghan people in efforts to build a just, peaceful and law-abiding state."

The US military has launched an investigation after saying it was unaware of any civilians killed. An American spokesman said the strike targeted a known Taliban commander and killed 30 militants.

Captain Mike Windsor, a spokesman for Nato, said the force had not received any official notification about the government decision. He said Nato's mission was based on a UN mandate and carried out at the invitation of the Afghan government.

In an angry statement, the government said officials had "repeatedly discussed the issue of civilian casualties with the international forces and asked for all air raids on civilian targets, especially in Afghan villages, to be stopped".

"The issues of uncoordinated house searches and harassing civilians have also been of concern to the government of Afghanistan, which has been shared with the commanders of international forces in Afghanistan," it said.

"Unfortunately, to date, our demands have not been addressed. Rather, more civilians, including women and children, are losing their lives as a result of air raids."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008...ghanistan.nato

[attilavolciak07]

Can someone tell me what we are doing there? Besides killing civilians or allied soldiers.

[Yorkshireman]

Maybe the Afghan government should just fight the Taliban on their own then.

[Holger Danske]

Maybe the Afghan government should just fight the Taliban on their own then.

and maybe we should train them so they actually can do it... wait... That is in fact what we are doing there! Sadly though you can't train a military force over night.

[Gumpfendorfer]

The way Nato is fighting the war is one the biggest recruiters for the Taliban. And maybe we should stop talking about Taliban altogether. It is now a whole myriade of rebellions against Western forces and more important against the central government in Kabul.

In Uruzgan my country killed more than 300 civilians during mid 2006 to mid 2007.

In once case McNeill called it a clear violation of the Geneva Convention -lobbing 155mm granades into a villlage near Chora without a clear warning to local population before the shelling and no observers in place during the shelling. 70 people died, the village flattened. Dutch troops were 8 kilometers away from the village, there was no military necessity to attack it in the first place.

It is the unwillingnes to take any casulties and too little soldiers on the ground to begin with, which has led to solving our military, or should I say- political- problems with airstrikes.

In that same period the Dutch army estimates that the Taliban had killed around 50 to 60 Afghans as reprisal or bomb attacks. I would not be surprised that score is pretty average for the entire country. If I were Afghan I would not bank on Nato to protect me. Nato is going to leave sooner or later, leaving the average Afghan again at the mercy of the warlords and Taliban -and mind you: in most of the country Afghans already are at their mercy, of both to be precise.

We are following a self defeating strategy in Afghanistan.

[Kiljan Arslan]

Tiwaz I think I said earlier I would like to see the USA greatly increace its troop numbers. And I would like to see different tactics used.

[Grobar]

Americans are cowards. They are not willing to take fight to Afghans man on man but rather obiliterate everything from the air. Whoever dies, dies.
This happens too often in every war they are involved. They are simply not willing to risk lives of their soldiers but rather take an easy option from the air. Just remember Japan where they even claim they saved lives by dropping atomic bombs. But we know better, they are cowards.

[Tiwaz]

Tiwaz I think I said earlier I would like to see the USA greatly increace its troop numbers. And I would like to see different tactics used.

Adding troops would not help.

Tactics might, but what army would adopt tactics which mean lots of dead soldiers? USA is having hard enough time to keep it's manpower in some kind of shape. If GI started to drop like flies, amount of recruits would further dwindle.

[attilavolciak07]

Why not? That's good.

[Joker85]

The Afghans were the ones that called in the airstrike. Tragic nonetheless.

[Mithie]

The Afghans were the ones that called in the airstrike. Tragic nonetheless.

with foreign troops

[Markas]

60 children? I hope It's not that many.

[Каие]

60 ****ing children. I really hope not. That's what makes war the it is.

[Stuntdawg5]

Tragic, very, very tragic. A sorry day. My condolences to the victim's families.

Can someone tell me what we are doing there? Besides killing civilians or allied soldiers.

Hmmm....I wonder....Maybe it has something to do with two towers? Or bombings in several other Western countries? Nahhhhhhhhh....We're just in there for the hell of it, of course.

[Pontifex Maximus]

Can someone tell me what we are doing there? Besides killing civilians or allied soldiers.

I often ask myself the same questions, but I would like to think that we are making life for the civilians as easy as possible. I've no idea what life there is like besides it's rather brutal, but I hope we are doing good.

Maybe the Afghan government should just fight the Taliban on their own then.

They aren't ready to handle that task on their own I think. Let's give it a few more years. We should withdraw as many troops as possible though.

Why not? That's good.

If the Taliban takes back control over most of the country that president is going to be singing a song of a different tune. I'm hoping what we are doing there will be beneficial in the long term.

60 ****ing children. I really hope not. That's what makes war the it is.

It's terrible. Just terrible.

[Fluttershy]

Is there any proof besides these "eyewitness" accounts? I have no doubt that civilians died but 90? im skeptical. REmember in SO how we had the SO civilains on camera claiming there was a "genocide" going on which was soon proved to be BS?

also it states it was foreign troops and afghans who called in the air strike... so it automatically means its the wests fault? sigh...

[Mythos]

Is there any proof besides these "eyewitness" accounts? I have no doubt that civilians died but 90? im skeptical.

So you are trying to say that the relatives of those who died had, in their grief and sorrow, the inclination to lie about how many in their family died for the purpose of anti-american propaganda?

[Panzerbear]

So you are trying to say that the relatives of those who died had, in their grief and sorrow, the inclination to lie about how many in their family died for the purpose of anti-american propaganda?

hey, they suggested the same about South Ossetians... all crying relatives are paid actors. all dead bodies are rubber dummies. all destroyed buildings are photoshop. all claims of genocide are fabricated by commie propaganda.

[Rapax]

hey, they suggested the same about South Ossetians... all crying relatives are paid actors. all dead bodies are rubber dummies. all destroyed buildings are photoshop. all claims of genocide are fabricated by commie propaganda.

I'm surprised you haven't accused coalition troops of genocide yet.

[Panzerbear]

I'm surprised you haven't accused coalition troops of genocide yet.

impossible. the West is never guilty of anything, no matter how many tens of thousands of civilians are they going to kill during their fight for freedom .