US accused of failing Afghan civilians
Human Rights Watch today accused the US military of not doing enough to reduce civilian casualties during battles in Afghanistan and called for “fundamental changes” to prevent massive civilian deaths like those during an airstrike this month.
Afghans blame US airstrikes for scores of deaths – including many women and children – and destruction in two villages during a May 4-5 clash in western Farah province.
American officials say the Taliban kept villagers hostage during the fight.
It is unclear exactly how many people died in the fighting in Bala Baluk district.
The Afghan government has paid out compensation to families for 140 dead, based on a list gathered from villagers.
The US military has said that figure is exaggerated, but has not given its own estimate.
If the Afghan toll is correct, it would be the largest case of civilian deaths since the 2001 US-led invasion to oust the Taliban.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said its investigation found while measures were put in place since previous incidents in which civilians were killed, Bala Baluk shows those safeguards were “inadequate”.
Villagers told researchers for the watchdog group the firefight between Taliban and Afghan and US forces had ended before the evening bombing began.
The US has said militants were still firing in the villages when it dropped bombs on the site in the evening.
“Even if some Taliban remained in the village, dropping a dozen bombs into a residential area doesn’t seem to make much sense,” Brad Adams, the group’s Asia director, said in a statement.
“The US needs to answer some basic questions about the sources and quality of information it requires before authorising these kinds of devastating bombing runs,” Adams said.
US military guidelines issued following a previous battle that resulted in large-scale civilian deaths charges commanders taking fire from an Afghan house to “satisfy themselves that every effort has been made to confirm that the Afghan facility does not shelter innocent civilians”.
Human Rights Watch noted that international troops have also been told to consider pulling out of firefights in areas with large numbers of civilians.
Meanwhile, an official in southern Helmand province said 22 Taliban militants, including three regional commanders, were killed overnight fighting in southern Afghanistan.
A band of Taliban fighters attacked two police checkpoints in Nawzad district yesterday, taking control of the stations and forcing the officers to flee, said Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand province.
The police launched a counterattack with the help of an airstrike, killing 22 insurgents. Three men who acted as Taliban chiefs in Nawzad and surrounding districts were among the dead, Ahmadi said. He said no Afghan forces died in the fighting.
The attack came on the same day that a Nato service member was killed by a bomb blast in the south and that Taliban militants attacked a prison in the east.
The militants did not manage to break into the prison in eastern Laghman province on Friday, but a group of more than a dozen prisoners charged an interior gate, said provincial Police Chief Gen. Abdul Karim.
One prisoner managed to get away by jumping over the wall, while police shot another one dead as he attempted to flee, Karim said. Both of the men had been imprisoned for criminal offences and were not known to have Taliban connections, he said.
