This morning in Wardak, Afghanistan, a NATO airstrike hit a Afghan outpost that was covered in snow at the time. Four Afghan soldiers were killed and seven were wounded. NATO is now investigating the attack which was dealt by a mixed US and Afghan force. This "friendly fire" is being called a misunderstanding. They thought they were bombing a Taliban fighting position. Afghan troops are blaming US troops for calling in the airstrike. They also asked that the US troops that were involved be punished for what they did. The top military position in Afghanistan has been emphasizing on limiting Afghan deaths. Statistics show that NATO troops deaths are down.
Shouldn't we MAKE SURE before bombing an outpost? Its whoever issued it fault not the people who were following orders. Its also sad that this incident was merely called a misunderstanding. This is lives people. It was the US' fault, not a US' misunderstanding. They have been trying to limit the number of deaths from the NATO side by having more Afghan forces. Well, if they want to keep this up, there won't be an agreement anymore.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
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3 comments:
I agree with you completely. You cannot blame the people who are just following orders. "Don't kill the messenger," very much applies here. However, one thing that is also true, is that this is one step backwards for Obama if he wants all troops out of Afghanistan soon. He wants to re stabilize Afghanistan, but that requires trust of US intentions. This "mis-communication" definitely chipped away at the US-Afghan trust. Obama and the military leaders definitely need to be more careful when ordering these blind missile barrages. This surely wasn't the first friendly fire event, and I doubt it will be the last.
-Henry Zhang
Yep. This is one of the worst cases of miscommunication. Maybe it wasn't "friendly" fire in the first place. Maybe some guy had an issue with working with the Afghan people.
I'm not going to comment too much here, but when I heard this on NPR, I stopped reading and then I ... kept reading.
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