AFGHANISTAN: In Afghanistan, halting civilian deaths in strikes is a tough mission

Los Angeles Times

By DAVID ZUCCHINO

Reporting from Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan — When Afghan parliament member Obaidullah Helali went to visit his constituents in the village of Garani last month, they confronted him with clubs and stones.

It was three days after a U.S. airstrike killed dozens of civilians in the remote settlement in the western province of Farah. Enraged villagers threatened to beat Helali and other officials and asked why the Afghan government couldn’t protect them — not from the Taliban, but from the U.S. military.

“If the Americans don’t stop these kind of accidents, the people will never believe the government will keep them safe,” Helali said.

AFGHANISTAN: Mullen: U.S. responsible for civilian deaths in Afghan battle

CNN

By MIKE MOUNT

The U.S. military is responsible for civilian deaths during a firefight with Taliban militia in May in western Afghanistan, the nation’s highest ranking military officer said Thursday.

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. troops in Farah province were responsible for the deaths of the civilians, who were killed when air support called in by the troops hit a compound where both civilian and Taliban fighters were sheltered.

He said it may be impossible to ever know how many were killed. He said he doubts, however, the Afghanistan government’s number of about 140 deaths.