US Apologizes, But Afghan Drone Deaths Another Big Hit to Ties

The Obama Administration’s effort to coax some Afghan official current or future to give their imprimatur to a continued occupation took another major blow yesterday, with a drone strike against Logar Province yesterday.

The strike killed five Afghan National Army soldiers and wounded eight others, and also destroyed a hilltop forward operating base. Officials had initially shrugged it off as a case of mistaken identity.

That seems less credible today, however, as Afghan officials say the base had been regularly used by US troops in the past, and even though the US no longer uses the base, it is unthinkable they simply forgot and assumed it was a Taliban base.

The Pentagon issued a statement offering “condolences” for the deaths but NATO would only say they were seeking to determine ways to ensure such killings don’t happen again.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.