On Monday, Dec 28, President Karzai condemned a foreign airstrike [2] in Kunar province, saying the attack killed 10 civilians including eight students. Now the UN's Kai Eide has weighed in on the matter:
UN Says Eight Afghans Killed In Weekend Raid Were Students
KABUL, Dec 31 (Reuters) - The United Nations said today that eight Afghan students died in a controversial nighttime raid last weekend, which NATO-led forces say only targeted insurgents but Afghan officials say killed 10 civilians...
"The United Nations remains concerned about nighttime raids given that they often result in lethal outcomes for civilians, the dangerous confusion that frequently arises when a family compound is invaded, and the frustration of local authorities when operations are not coordinated with them," [UN Special Representative Kai] Eide said... (link [3])
The New York Times reports that the UN investigation's findings are only preliminary [4] at this stage. Note that the UN doesn't so far shed any light on the other two alleged civilian victims.
Now there are reports of similar incident, this one in Helmand province:
Air Strike Kills Afghan Civilians, Provincial Official Says
KANDAHAR, Dec 31 (Reuters) - An air strike by foreign forces in Afghanistan's southern Helmand Province on December 30 killed civilians, although the number of victims is unknown, a spokesman for the provincial governor said.
"A patrol of foreign troops came under Taliban ambush at 3 p.m. After the ambush, planes came and bombed the area, which caused civilian casualties," said Dawud Ahmadi, spokesman for the Helmand governor... (link [5])
The New York Times relates reports that seven civilians died in the attack and Xinhua quotes an official to that effect:
"NATO-led troops carried out air strike outside Helmand's provincial capital Lashkargah on Wednesday, killing seven civilians and wounding two others," spokesman for provincial administration Daud Ahmadi told Xinhua.
The attack, he added, took place when some elders in Walizai village were discussing on the irrigation system in their area... (link [6])
Al Jazeera says "at least eight civilians [7]" were killed in the Helmand incident.
Links:
[1] http://rabble.ca/taxonomy/term/1879
[2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/28/afghanistan-civilians-killed-in-fighting
[3] http://www.rferl.org/content/UN_Says_Eight_Afghans_Killed_In_Weekend_Raid_Were_Students/1918595.html
[4] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/world/asia/01kabul.html
[5] http://www.rferl.org/content/Air_Strike_Kills_Afghan_Civilians_Provincial_Official_Says__/1918421.html
[6] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/31/content_12736619.htm
[7] http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/12/2009123182352886496.html
[8] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/davemarkland/2010/01/18-afghan-civilians-killed-airstrikes#comment-1097394
[9] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/davemarkland/2010/01/18-afghan-civilians-killed-airstrikes#comment-1097406
[10] http://rabble.ca/user
[11] http://rabble.ca/user/register
Doesn't matter: Canada had one civilian killed (while riding in a military vehicle, no less) and that's what the Canadian MSM are preoccupied with.
Afghan lives apparently are of no concern.
It has long seemed obvious that we just don't care about Afghans. This was rather vividly shown back in December 2006. Here's a bit of an article I wrote back then:
"On December 12, a Canadian soldier on guard duty shot and killed an Afghan senior citizen in Kandahar City. The man, 90 year-old Haji Abdul Rahman, had approached the provincial governor's palace on his motorcycle. A frequent visitor to the palace, the elderly former teacher had come to pay a visit to his old pupil: Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai. Afghan soldiers in charge of an outer check-point, evidently familiar with the locally famous man, had let him pass without questioning him. Upon seeing this, the Canadian soldier became suspicious or alarmed and commenced verbal warnings aimed at the elderly motorcyclist. When these signals did not have the desired effect (a common occurrence, it must be noted, in this conflict as well as the one in Iraq), the soldier fired a warning shot which ricocheted and killed the man, according to a Canadian Forces spokesperson.
"Readers would be readily forgiven if they had not heard about this shocking event, as it went largely unreported in Canada's elite media. The Toronto Star simply did not report it at all. In the Globe, the only mention was made by Rick Salutin in his column (Dec 15, A23). Meanwhile, a search of the CBC website finds no mention of the shooting victim."
To this shameful episode we could add this past year's coverage of Obama's surges. Scant mention was ever made that Afghans themselves were known, among specialists, to widely oppose the troop build up. No one cares what they think, or if they live or die.
Thank you for your comments.
Dave M