Gates apologizes for Afghan civilian deaths

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-18 10:31

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates sought Wednesday to defuse growing tensions with the Afghan government over civilian deaths, expressing his "sincere condolences" and promising speedier compensation and investigation.

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates takes a few questions from the media after looking over an A-10 "Warthog"(rear), a close support aircraft, during an unannounced visit to Bagram Airfield September 17, 2008. [Agencies]

"As I told them, I offer all Afghans my sincere condolences and personal regrets for the recent loss of innocent life as a result of coalition airstrikes," Gates said after meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. "While no military has ever done more to prevent civilian casualties, it is clear that we have to work even harder."

Gates' unusual apology followed a frank assessment from the top military commander in Afghanistan: There aren't enough US ground forces in Afghanistan, so the military is relying more heavily on air power. Air power runs a greater risk of civilian deaths in a country where insurgents do not wear uniforms and they intentionally mix with the general population.

Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of international forces in Afghanistan, had said earlier that the chronic shortage of US troops in Afghanistan is forcing commanders to rely more on air combat. US airstrikes that kill civilians have angered and embarrassed the US-backed Afghan government, and Karzai has been bitterly critical of such attacks.

Gates agreed to an Afghan proposal to establish a permanent US-Afghan group to investigate all incidents involving civilian casualties. That would be a shift from the current practice of US, Afghan and international probes proceeding separately.

And the defense secretary said he favored "a bit of a change of approach" in how US military authorities react when allegations arise over unintended damage from US air attacks.

"I think the key for us is, in those rare occasions when we do make a mistake, when there is an error, to apologize quickly, to compensate the victims quickly and then carry out the investigation," Gates told reporters later at Bagram airfield north of Kabul, where he received a briefing from an Air Force general on the rules and restrictions US pilots must follow when providing aerial support to US and allied troops engaged in ground fighting.

He then made a brief tour of the flightline where an array of jets were parked under a bright sun.

Standing beside a workhorse in the fleet of planes used in so-called close-air support missions, an Air Force A-10 Warthog whose painted nose art featured the gaping jaws of a shark, Gates said Karzai had assured him that the Afghan people "are still very friendly toward the United States."

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