Washington Post: Commander Violated NATO Rules in Afghan Air Strike
By VOA News
05 September 2009
A published report says a German commander in Afghanistan may have violated NATO rules when he ordered an air strike that killed civilians in Kunduz province based on intelligence from just one source.
The Washington Post says the strike was in violation of NATO rules aimed at reducing civilian casualties. It says those rules forbid bombing civilian targets based on a sole source of information.
The newspaper says the German officer received video from an American fighter jet, showing grainy images of people around two fuel trucks allegedly in Taliban possession. But apparently it was not clear from the video whether the images were people carrying weapons.
The Post says an Afghan informant insisted that everyone at the site was an insurgent. It says that after that assessment, the German officer ordered a satellite-guided bomb dropped on each truck.
According to The Post, a NATO fact-finding team estimated that about 125 people were killed in the bombing, and that at least 24 of them were not insurgents. Local officials have said many civilians died in the strike.
The new commander of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, U.S. General Stanley McChrystal, recently issued the directive on avoiding civilian casualties. It also requires that troops establish a "pattern of life" to ensure that no civilians are in the targeted area.
German officials say the order to attack was given because the fuel trucks could be used as weapons in a suicide attack against nearby German troops.
Meanwhile, NATO's international force in Afghanistan says three of its service members - one American, one French and one Dutch - died Sunday in separate attacks.
Also, a Swedish charity operating a hospital in Afghanistan said U.S. troops forced their way in last week and tied up patients' relatives and staff.
The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan said the soldiers entered its hospital south of Kabul in Wardak late Wednesday without explanation and conducted a search, including of female wards and bathrooms.
The group said it was "unacceptable" and a violation of "globally recognized humanitarian principles about the sanctity of health facilities and staff in areas of conflict." It also called the incident a breach of deals between the military and aid groups.
Officials for the NATO-led force said they are aware of the incident, but do not have any additional information.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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