In April, Biden uses his power to command the armed forces and called for the U.S. military to be removed from Afghanistan, leaving many with mixed feelings. Daniel Depertris, from News Week, thought it would be a good idea to leave Afghanistan as they would no longer have to bear the weight of upholding the safety of other countries such as China, Russia, and Iran, all while receiving blame. Depertris also mentions that the troubles of Afghanistan will no longer have to be put on America. Ian Bremmer from Time Magazine also thought that leaving was the right thing to do, however, for different reasons. He states that the war would ultimately be unwinnable, and when the U.S. inevitably would pull out, the Taliban would take over. In addition, many troops and civilians would continue to be harmed if they didn’t pull out. Both agreed that for the Afghanistan civilians, it would be tragic and violent as the power returns to the Taliban.
This thought, prominent in both articles, was shown today after an investigation of the August 29th airstrike on a suspected ISIS-K-related vehicle concluded that 10 civilians were killed, 7 being children. The suspected vehicle was followed for 8 hours and was said to have a driver loading jugs and other materials into the car. The normal investigation of intelligence normally would take days, weeks, and sometimes months, according to ABC news. However, because of the time pressure and the possibility of both evacuees and U.S. troops being harmed, the military chose to strike under “reasonable certainty” (CNN). The suicide bombing killing 100 civilians and 13 U.S. service members that took place only three days before could have also been an extra push to go through with the strike as Biden stated that “we [would] hunt [them] down and make [them] pay.”
After the strike had taken place, it was seen as righteous, as the military thought that they had killed at least one ISIS-K member and only 3 civilians. They also had seen a significant explosion after the airstrike, making many believe that the vehicle had explosives. We would later find out that there was actually a propane gas tank next to the vehicle that caused this flare-up.
 |
| Source: https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/family-kabul-drone-strike-killed-7-children-including-5-under-the-age-of-6/ |
General Frank McKenzie offered his apology claiming the strike was a mistake and a tragic outcome. He also made sure to make clear that this is not how the military would normally pursue a counterterrorism mission, and that they would look more into the target for later missions.
This mistake has caused some doubts about America’s counterterrorism efforts. For example, Chairman Adam Schiff mentions that it is important that we know what happened leading up to the strike as it could help prevent something like this from happening again. Amnesty International, a human rights organization, said that the military acknowledging and being clear is an “important step toward accountability,” but also mentions that they need to take more steps, which could include paying family members and survivors reparations.
The U.S. has been fighting in the Afghanistan war for many years, using an influx of money and causing many casualties. However, by leaving Afghanistan it would leave the Taliban in control leaving civilians deprived of human rights, especially women. I agree with both Depitris and Bremmer that civilians’ lives and human rights are on the line with the Taliban taking over. For this reason, it is important for the U.S. to make sure that they are thorough with their investigations to make sure that we are not contributing even more to their risk. The casualties of this airstrike were truly tragic, and I can only hope that we are able to use more time to investigate intelligence and help civilians rather than put them in more harm.
Forbes Video for More Info: https://youtu.be/OT0fdJvEKgQ
ABC News Video for more Info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gq-WFRUDIcQuestions:
Do you think that the military could have handled the airstrike in a different way? If so, what would you propose?
Do you think that Biden using his power to remove the military from Afghanistan was reasonable?
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/17/politics/kabul-drone-strike-us-military-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.newsweek.com/strategic-benefits-withdrawal-opinion-1616643
https://time.com/6091745/bidens-decision-to-exit-afghanistan/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gq-WFRUDIc
3 comments:
Personally, I find it fairly difficult to decide whether to support or criticize the military's decision. It's very understandable that they were trying to keep casualties to a minimum, however, only waiting 8 hours before making a crucial decision that could potentially kill innocent civilians is questionable. Since we don't really have a gauge for how urgent it was to stop the truck, it's difficult to justify the seemingly hasty military decision. At the same time, I can't come up with an alternative way to thoroughly investigate the truck other than using some sort of surveillance drone. Even then, the chance of success is probably pretty low considering the fact that it would have to get fairly close to confirm the presence of any explosives. It would also be counterintuitive to send soldiers to investigate the truck up close since it increases the chance of more casualties in the case that the truck really did have explosives. I guess my final answer is that I feel like the government should've waited at least a little bit longer before using the airstrike on the truck. Without a doubt, reparations to the families of those killed should be provided.
I also think it is a little hard to criticize the military's decision. Like you said, we don't know the full details of the mission, so it is hard to make certain conclusions about how they went about launching the airstrike. Additionally, with many lives at stake and the pressures of their situation in Afghanistan, I can understand the urgency. However, I think that 8 hours was not enough time to fully develop a decision to launch an airstrike, especially after they had not seen the vehicle for a certain amount of time. I agree reparations should be provided for the families, as it was our mistake that killed innocent people, including children.
I agree with Arissa and believe that it's hard to criticize the military based of their decision. Like she said, we don't know the full background of the mission and the entire situation they were in at the moment. The suicide bomb 3 days prior to this incident definitely affected their decision making. Due to the bombing, the military may have been in a panic and may have worried that it would happen again when scouting the unidentified van. Maybe influencing them to make the decision faster without more time and evidence. According to ABC News "The normal investigation of intelligence normally would take days, weeks, and sometimes months", considering that the military only took 8 hours to finalize the decision of the airstrike. The situation they were in was most likely worse than what we know. Based with the lack of information that we have I can't state whether or not the military produced the right decision. However, at the least I do believe that we should provide reparations to the families that lost people, since it was our mistake killing innocent people.
Post a Comment