By AFP
BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen pledged on Friday to conduct a thorough investigation into an air bombing that killed dozens of people in Afghanistan.
“The Afghan people should know that we are clearly committed to protecting them and that we will fully and immediately investigate this incident,” Rasmussen told reporters in Brussels.
“Certainly, a number of Taliban were killed,” said the former Danish prime minister, who took office last month. “There is also the possibility of civilian casualties as well, but it is not yet clear.”
The NATO air strike destroyed two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban in Afghanistan’s volatile northern Kunduz province, igniting a fireball that officials said killed between 50 and 90 people — mostly insurgents.
The bombing revived controversy about civilian casualties in Western military operations, a frequent source of friction with the Afghan government and people.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the United Nations and Afghan government are all investigating reports of civilian casualties as accounts emerged of horrific injuries.
Afghan police said a 12-year-old child was among the wounded, 56 Taliban killed and 12 more wounded.
Rasmussen said the top ISAF general in Afghanistan had sent an investigating team to the area, but declined to provide any details about the air strike.
“In conflicts like this, mistakes can happen but in this concrete case let’s now see what the investigation concludes,” he said.
He underlined that ISAF had been doing its utmost to reduce the number of civilian casualties, which have undermined NATO-led efforts to beat the Taliban and support the Afghan government.
“Our commitment to protect civilians is demonstrated by the fact that civilian casualties caused by ISAF are down over 95 percent from last year’s levels,” he said.
NATO officials have said six civilians were killed in July this year, compared with around 170 for the same month in 2008.
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