8
Nov

U.S. airstrike kills 37 civilians in southern Afghanistan

Posted by: Scott @ 9:20 am in Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Middle East, Military, Politics, foreign policy  | 0 views

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — An investigation by the Afghan government says the Taliban was largely responsible for the deaths of as many as 37 women and children killed in an air strike earlier this week by the U.S. military. The air strike was ordered after a U.S. military convoy was ambushed Monday by Taliban militants. The bombs struck a compound in the Shah Wali Kot district where the women and children were attending a wedding celebration. The report, compiled by the governor of Kandahar province, says the final death toll was 37 civilians and 26 insurgents.

“The investigation has learned these Taliban fighters went close to one of the compounds where the wedding party was being held and fired on the convoy,” said Kandahar provincial governor Rahmatullah Raufi. “The coalition responded with the air strike that caused both Taliban and civilian casualties.”

Following the deaths, Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged U.S. president-elect Barack Obama to put a stop to the killing of civilians in coalition operations, which undermine support for the Afghan government and the NATO mission.

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Gotta wonder what Pres-Elect Obama said in response.
Obama: “I’m so sorry President Karzai. I’m head of the Senate Committee on Afghanistan, but I had no idea there was still fighting going on. Um, it’s Bush’s fault.”

Note to Pres-Elect Obama:
WELCOME to the hot seat

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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 at 9:20 am and is filed under Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Middle East, Military, Politics, foreign policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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2 comments so far

BarbaraS
 1Reply to this comment  

What? Does Karzai want to wait until January 20 2009 for the US to stop killing civilians? I understand he is getting flak from his people but we don’t kill civilians on purpose. How can we give the Taliban a pass when they move in close to civilians? Maybe their people should kill the Taliban that come close to them. They all have guns don’t they? Or do they, like a goodly portion of the American people, expect the government to save them with no effort on their part?

November 9th, 2008 at 9:57 am
ThomNJ
 2Reply to this comment  

What amazes me is the fact that reports of killing civilians keeps coming out like we do it all the time – have you seen any of the leaked video footage from air strikes – our guys wait forever before striking – they count the weapons – the cameras go back and forth to make sure of intent, of weapons being carried, they await confirmation and clearance to engage, etc – with the clarity of these cameras, I have a great deal of trouble believing so many civilians are killed – unless they are all indoors and not visible to our military

November 10th, 2008 at 10:01 am

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