U.S. General Says Afghans Requested Airstrike That Hit Kunduz Hospital
By MATTHEW ROSENBERGOCT. 5, 2015
WASHINGTON — The American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John F. Campbell, said on Monday that Afghan forces had requested the airstrike that destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the city of Kunduz, conceding that the military had incorrectly reported at first that the response was to protect American troops said to be under direct threat.
But General Campbell’s response to criticism of the American airstrike during a brief news conference at the Pentagon did little to clarify the military’s initial claims that the strike had been an accident. Nor did it explain how an AC-130 gunship, a powerful and precise attack aircraft, killed 22 people, including patients and hospital staff members, during more than 30 minutes of firing on the hospital on Saturday morning as Afghan forces fought to retake Kunduz from the Taliban.
Continue reading the main story
Who called in the strike remained an open question, and the military itself appeared uncertain about whether any of the Afghan or American troops involved in the strike knew that they were unleashing a sustained air attack on a hospital.
Nine months after President Obama declared an end to the American war in Afghanistan, the airstrike has provided a tragic reminder that the United States is still very much involved in the conflict. And just as in past cases in which American aircraft killed Afghans, the military has again found itself struggling to explain why it ended up targeting civilians, not Taliban fighters, in an episode that is likely to help shape the debate about how large a force to keep there beyond this year. There are currently about 10,000 American troops in Afghanistan, and most are there to train and advise Afghan forces.
At his news conference, General Campbell said that Afghan forces had come under fire near the hospital and then called for help. “This is different from the initial reports which indicated that U.S. forces were threatened and that the airstrike was called on their behalf,” he said.
MORE
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/world/asia/afghanistan-kunduz-doctors-without-borders-hospital.html?_r=0
