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Gates apologizes for Afghan civilian deaths
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-18 10:31 Taken together, the Pentagon chief's pronouncements during his first visit to Afghanistan since December reflected concern in the Bush administration that recurring allegations that US bombs deliberately target civilians, accusations denied by the US, are seriously undermining a central US goal: to persuade ordinary Afghans that the US military is here to protect them and that the enemy US forces are fighting is also their enemy. This "hearts and minds" battle is central to the US counterinsurgency strategy.
This is a problem facing not only the Bush administration but the next US president as well. There are about 33,000 US troops in Afghanistan, and the Pentagon is sending another Army brigade, numbering about 3,700 soldiers, in January. They will join a fight against a determined insurgency opposed both to Karzai's government and to the presence of foreign troops. A roadside blast Wednesday in eastern Afghanistan killed four US coalition soldiers and an Afghan. US military deaths in Afghanistan in 2008 already have surpassed the record 111 deaths the US suffered here last year. The number of attacks on US forces in eastern Afghanistan has risen by around 30 percent this year compared with 2007, US military officials say. Of the numerous recent cases of Afghan civilians getting killed in US airstrikes, perhaps the most damaging is the widely publicized attacks of August 22 on a village compound in western Afghanistan. Afghan and U.N. investigators found that up to 90 civilians were killed, including women and children. US investigators first said the civilian toll did not exceed seven, but McKiernan later announced a higher-level US investigation to look into new evidence. In an interview Tuesday in Kabul, McKiernan said the follow-up US probe should be done in a couple of weeks. Gates did not comment directly on whether he thought the US had underestimated the toll from the August 22 strikes. "You have my word," Gates said, addressing Afghans directly during a news conference, "that we will do everything in our power to find new and better ways to target our common enemies, while protecting the good people of Afghanistan." |
