(Updated: Originally published November 14, 2006)
Placed in the bottom left corner of page A12, as usual:
"Toll of Civilians NATO Killed Was Worst Since It Took Over" by DAVID ROHDE and TAIMOOR SHAH
KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 13 — A joint NATO and Afghan investigation has found that a nighttime NATO air attack killed 31 civilians in southern Afghanistan last month, the highest civilian death toll since NATO took over security in the south in August.
The civilian casualties come at an important and delicate time for NATO forces here. It promised to win support and bring stability by focusing on development instead of combat. But fighting and suicide bombings continue.
That's what the U.S. brings to countries it invades!
Gen. David Richards, the British commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, has said that as much as seventy percent of the population in the south is “on the fence,” unsure whether to support the Taliban or the country’s American-backed government.
If NATO cannot deliver development and security this winter, the southern population could turn against the government. Interviews last week with survivors of the NATO air attack suggest that the incident might severely damage NATO’s reputation among Afghans.
The reputation and support are already gone!
They have failed to deliver development and security.
You can not annihilate families by fire via air and expect support.
And seeing as this was written one year ago, which side of the fence do you think the Afghanis landed on?
The investigation found that many of the civilians were nomadic shepherds who had fled their tents with their wives and children after a NATO bomb struck a nearby compound, killing 20 Taliban fighters, according to the NATO official.
When the surviving Taliban fighters fled the compound, a C-130 gunship, armed with heavy machine guns and cannons, strafed nearby fields. NATO ground forces also fired mortars into the area.
Eighteen dead civilians were found scattered in one field. Ten civilians were found dead in a ditch. Three more lay nearby, according to the senior NATO official, who declined to say how many women and children perished. Only two Taliban fighters who fled the compound died.
“You had insurgents on the move, and civilians on the move as well, and they got caught up in it,” said the NATO official. “We’re very regretful.”
The Oct. 24 air attack in the village of Lakani sparked widespread condemnation from Afghan civilians and officials. At the time, residents of the Panjwai district claimed that as many as 80 civilians had been killed.
Can you imagine the HORROR and TERROR these BEAUTIFULLY INNOCENT PEOPLE must have experienced at our hands?
"Nomadic shepherds who had fled their tents with their wives and children?" I'm feeling ILL!
Totally innocent people, "many women and children" fleeing in a field are strafed by a C-130 gunship!
And the fascist commander says, "Oh well, they just got caught up in it. Sorry."
Why don't you just come out and say it you Nazi puke:
AFGHAN LIVES AREN'T WORTH SPIT!
Un-effin-believable!
The two districts are the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban and strategic locations that can be used to attack the nearby city of Kandahar. NATO forces continue to use artillery and airstrikes in the heavily populated area.
The NATO official said the air attack occurred after Taliban fighters massed in a compound two miles from a base holding Afghan government forces and a small number of NATO special forces soldiers. That morning, the Taliban had attacked the base, the official said.
NATO forces spent more than one and a half hours confirming that Taliban were present in the compound before ordering the air attack, the official said. Taliban were heard communicating by radio, the official said, and were observed by an aerial drone and ground forces. NATO soldiers were unaware that shepherds were in the area, the official said.
Doesn't make sense!
NATO knows Taliban is all over the place, yet shepherds and their families, civilians, who knew?
If you did not, then your technological prowess in the espionage area are BULLSHIT!
Fact is: Civilians, shepherds, men, women, children, Taliban, it's all the same. They are all "terrorists!"
Wanna meet some?
Abdul Ghafoor, a 45-year-old shepherd who was sleeping in a tent with his wife, four sons and two daughters when a bomb struck the nearby compound:
Mr. Ghafoor, apparently referring to the C-130 gunship:
"[After we fled the tent], the big plane targeted us directly."
Mr. Ghafoor, who was wounded in the arm, said that he and his 2-year-old daughter survived. His wife, four sons and the other daughter were killed.
Saifullah, a 55-year-old shepherd who uses only one name, said the plane gunned down a half dozen members of his family:
“We came out with my family members. The plane targeted us and killed my young sister on the spot.”
Rahmatullah, a 40-year-old Afghan who uses one name, said the plane circled the area for hours, firing on anyone who moved in nearby fields. His daughter was killed.
Way to go, NATO! Kill those "terrorists" and win some hearts and minds!
Any more episodes like this one, and 100% of the country will turn against us -- if they haven't already.
Considering that this story was a year ago, and the air strikes have increased five-fold, there have been way to many instances of this sort of thing.
Worse yet, the Zionist-controlled AmeriKan media has pretty much hidden Afghanistan from the American public's eyes!
