Kunduz hospital mistakenly struck - top US general in Afghanistan

[Stannis Baratheon]

The United States airstrike on an Afghanistan hospital was a mistake, General John Campbell, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has told a Senate committee. The US must adjust its timeline for total withdrawal from Afghanistan, Campbell said.

The hearing on Capitol Hill comes days after the US admitted responsibility for an airstrike on a hospital in Kunduz that killed at least 19 people, including nine Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) staff and three children.

Campbell said Tuesday in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the decision to carry out that bombing was made within the US chain of command.

"Even though the Afghans request(ed) that support, it still has to go through a rigorous US procedure" before a strike occurs, Campbell said.

"To be clear, the decision to provide aerial fires was a U.S. decision made within the U.S. chain of command," Campbell said."A hospital was mistakenly struck. We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility."

Campbell said a US report on the Kunduz hospital airstrike could be released within 30 days.

Campbell added that he has ordered proper training for his forces to prevent another such incident like the hospital massacre.

Afghan forces "have admittedly faltered at times," Campbell said, but he is confident they can regain Kunduz from Taliban fighters.


Gen. Campbell has given the Obama administration several options for gradually reducing the number of troops over a 15-month period. US officials recently told the AP that the options all call for retaining a higher-than-planned troop presence to sustain the Afghan army and prevent losing more ground.

Campbell’s options, according to US officials, would be to postpone any major cuts in troop levels this year, “keeping as many as 8,000 troops there well into next year” and “maintaining several thousand as a counterterrorism force in 2017.”

Campbell added on Tuesday that plans to recommence normal embassy operations in Afghanistan by 2017 should also be reconsidered, all as a Taliban resurgence in the northern city of Kunduz has caused new alarm in Washington.

Kunduz hospital mistakenly struck - top US general in Afghanistan — RT USA

 

[Psychic]

Will there be court martials?

 

[Stannis Baratheon]

Will there be court martials?

No decision taken yet. Most probably nothing will happen.

 

[I.R.A]

@pakistani342 ??? I remember you posted a pic few days back with the caption "Image from our hospital Doctors without borders".

 

[pakistani342]

@pakistani342 ??? I remember you posted a pic few days back with the caption "Image from our hospital Doctors without borders".

Yes, and sadly that was the hospital being referred to by this thread.

A few notes:
1. It seems that the ANSF asked for the strike saying they were taking fire from the hospital from the Taliban
2. MSF is adamant that there was no Taliban there
3. The Taliban are using this for major propaganda -- they have put together a catch slogan -- don't have it off hand
4. Some of the patients who were immobile in the ICU burned alive to death and some of the MSF staff witnessed the horrific event
5. All lives lost in this incident were Afghan including several surgeons
6. All NGO has closed down operation inside Kunduz -- depriving much needed humanitarian services
7. Afghan government reaction has been muted so that it does not add to the momentum for the US to quit
8. MSF has protested that some Afghan government members justified the strike

 

[That Guy]

I wouldn't put the entire blame on the US, the coordinates were given by the ANA, so most of the fault is with them. What the hell were the ANA thinking, when they targeted the hospital? Where they trying to make it look like the taliban bombed the hospital? Or make the coalition forces look bad?

Either way, this is a major blunder within a blunder.

 

[I.R.A]

Yes, and sadly that was the hospital being referred to by this thread.

A few notes:
1. It seems that the ANSF asked for the strike saying they were taking fire from the hospital from the Taliban
2. MSF is adamant that there was no Taliban there
3. The Taliban are using this for major propaganda -- they have put together a catch slogan -- don't have it off hand
4. Some of the patients who were immobile in the ICU burned alive to death and some of the MSF staff witnessed the horrific event
5. All lives lost in this incident were Afghan including several surgeons
6. All NGO has closed down operation inside Kunduz -- depriving much needed humanitarian services
7. Afghan government reaction has been muted so that it does not add to the momentum for the US to quit
8. MSF has protested that some Afghan government members justified the strike

This is sad and height of incompetency or willful mistake. But then again if they can say "Pakistani Generals wearing burqa escaped Kunduz" what else can we expect of them, seems like warlords and militias have been given legitimacy by wearing formal Uniform and acting on behalf of Afghan Government.

 

[Stannis Baratheon]

I wouldn't put the entire blame on the US, the coordinates were given by the ANA, so most of the fault is with them. What the hell were the ANA thinking, when they targeted the hospital? Where they trying to make it look like the taliban bombed the hospital? Or make the coalition forces look bad?

Either way, this is a major blunder within a blunder.

The US seem to use this excuse a lot. I remember they said the same when an air-strike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Also, it has been used a few times in Iraq too. This is used to shift the blame.

 

[Daneshmand]

@Penguin

Was this a "smart" bomb?

 

[pakistani342]

This is sad and height of incompetency or willful mistake. But then again if they can say "Pakistani Generals wearing burqa escaped Kunduz" what else can we expect of them, seems like warlords and militias have been given legitimacy by wearing formal Uniform and acting on behalf of Afghan Government.

Actually very true ... Gen Abdur Razik was a local drug smuggler -- became a police official Spin Boldak and within a few years became a "General" -- and the Afghans love him [even educated ones]

.

 

[Penguin]

@Penguin

Was this a "smart" bomb?

1. How would I know?
2. It is irrelevant to the discussion in the other thread.
3. Don't get so emotional.

 

[Daneshmand]

1. How would I know?
2. It is irrelevant to the discussion in the other thread.
3. Don't get so emotional.

1- You should know. You are carpeting all the threads and continuously implying why cannibal zombies do not deserve to die by dumb bombs. Only smart bombs are good enough to kill cannibals.

2- So is your carpeting the other threads bringing up the smart munition argument whenever the life of a cannibal zombie is in danger.

3- Likewise for you, bro!

 

[Penguin]

1- You should know. You are carpeting all the threads and continuously implying why cannibal zombies do not deserve to die by dumb bombs. Only smart bombs are good enough to kill cannibals.

2- So is your carpeting the other threads bringing up the smart munition argument whenever the life of a cannibal zombie is in danger.

3- Likewise for you, bro!

1. I posted in 1 thread, thank you.
2. I challenge you to quote verbatim
3. You are (over)reacting defensively.

 

[Airdef95]

Everything u do is a mistake... U guys have done PhD in "lies" & "cheating".