enhanced_deficit
10-06-2019, 09:12 PM
Anger grows at civilian deaths by US, Afghan forces
By: Kathy Gannon, The Associated Press 6 hours ago
In this Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019, photo, Aziz Rahman, second, right, a village elder, who had contracted the farmers to harvest the pine nuts, speaks during an interview to the Associated Press in Jalalabad city east of Kabul, Afghanistan. (Rahmat Gul/AP)
JALALABAD, Afghanistan — The workers were sleeping on the mountainside where they had spent a long day harvesting pine nuts in eastern Afghanistan. Some were in tents, others lay outside under the stars, when the U.S. airstrike tore into them.
Only hours before the Sept. 19 strike, the businessman who hired them had heard there was a drone over the mountain and called Afghanistan’s intelligence agency to remind an official his workers were there — as he’d notified the agency days earlier.
“He laughed and said, ‘Don’t worry they are not going to bomb you,’” the businessman, Aziz Rahman, recalled.
Twenty workers were killed in the strike, including seven members of one family. A relative, Mohammed Hasan, angrily described body parts they found scattered on the ground, gesturing at his arm, his leg, his head.
“This is not their (Americans') first mistake,” said Hasan. “They say ‘sorry’. What are we supposed to do with ‘sorry?’ ... People now are angry. They are so angry with the foreigners, with this government.”
More civilians have died by Afghan forces, allies than by militants in Afghanistan in the first half of 2019, UN says (https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2019/07/30/more-civilians-have-died-by-afghan-forces-allies-than-by-militants-in-afghanistan-in-the-first-half-of-2019-un-says/)
More civilians were killed by Afghan and international coalition forces in Afghanistan in the first half of this year than by the Taliban and other militants, the U.N. mission said in a report released Tuesday.
By: Rahim Faiez, The Associated Press
Increasing civilian deaths in stepped-up U.S. airstrikes and operations by Afghan forces highlight the conundrum the U.S. military and its Afghan allies face, 18 years into the war: How to hunt down their Islamic State group and Taliban enemies (https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2019/09/23/at-least-40-civilians-killed-in-anti-taliban-raids-afghan-officials-say/), while keeping civilians safe and on their side.
Complaints have also grown over abuses and killings by a CIA-trained Afghan special intelligence force known as Unit 02. In the same province, Nangarhar, members of the unit killed four brothers during a raid on their home. The brothers’ hands were bound and they were shot in the head.
https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2019/10/06/anger-grows-at-civilian-deaths-by-us-afghan-forces/
By: Kathy Gannon, The Associated Press 6 hours ago
In this Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019, photo, Aziz Rahman, second, right, a village elder, who had contracted the farmers to harvest the pine nuts, speaks during an interview to the Associated Press in Jalalabad city east of Kabul, Afghanistan. (Rahmat Gul/AP)
JALALABAD, Afghanistan — The workers were sleeping on the mountainside where they had spent a long day harvesting pine nuts in eastern Afghanistan. Some were in tents, others lay outside under the stars, when the U.S. airstrike tore into them.
Only hours before the Sept. 19 strike, the businessman who hired them had heard there was a drone over the mountain and called Afghanistan’s intelligence agency to remind an official his workers were there — as he’d notified the agency days earlier.
“He laughed and said, ‘Don’t worry they are not going to bomb you,’” the businessman, Aziz Rahman, recalled.
Twenty workers were killed in the strike, including seven members of one family. A relative, Mohammed Hasan, angrily described body parts they found scattered on the ground, gesturing at his arm, his leg, his head.
“This is not their (Americans') first mistake,” said Hasan. “They say ‘sorry’. What are we supposed to do with ‘sorry?’ ... People now are angry. They are so angry with the foreigners, with this government.”
More civilians have died by Afghan forces, allies than by militants in Afghanistan in the first half of 2019, UN says (https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2019/07/30/more-civilians-have-died-by-afghan-forces-allies-than-by-militants-in-afghanistan-in-the-first-half-of-2019-un-says/)
More civilians were killed by Afghan and international coalition forces in Afghanistan in the first half of this year than by the Taliban and other militants, the U.N. mission said in a report released Tuesday.
By: Rahim Faiez, The Associated Press
Increasing civilian deaths in stepped-up U.S. airstrikes and operations by Afghan forces highlight the conundrum the U.S. military and its Afghan allies face, 18 years into the war: How to hunt down their Islamic State group and Taliban enemies (https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2019/09/23/at-least-40-civilians-killed-in-anti-taliban-raids-afghan-officials-say/), while keeping civilians safe and on their side.
Complaints have also grown over abuses and killings by a CIA-trained Afghan special intelligence force known as Unit 02. In the same province, Nangarhar, members of the unit killed four brothers during a raid on their home. The brothers’ hands were bound and they were shot in the head.
https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2019/10/06/anger-grows-at-civilian-deaths-by-us-afghan-forces/