The Afghan government’s fledgling air force has considerable problems
with targeting accuracy, and those problems continued Thursday with an
airstrike in Helmand Province destroying a house-full of civilians, killing 16 members of an extended family.
According to provincial officials, air support was called in amid heavy
fighting in the oft-contested Sangin District. Both US and Afghan
warplanes were called in, and the Afghan aircraft were blamed for
hitting the civilian house.
NATO officials confirmed US advisors and warplanes were involved in the
“multi-day operation,” but they claimed to be uncertain about reports of
“non-combatant casualties,” despite those already having been confirmed
by the government.
Escalating airstrikes by both the US and Afghan forces have been causing
growing civilian casualties, with the Afghan military’s strikes even
more likely to result in such casualties.
We trained them well. Now they have to learn how to deny that any civilians are ever killed and the only deaths are those of “militants”.