US: Multiple Errors Led to Mistaken, Deadly Attack on Afghan Hospital

A U.S. military investigation concluded Wednesday that American and Afghan forces misidentified a target in Kunduz, Afghanistan last month that resulted in a mistaken half-hour aerial attack on a hospital that killed at least 31 people, mostly doctors and patients.

The report said the crew of a U.S. AC-130 gunship had intended to hit a compound believed to have been seized by Taliban fighters in the northern Afghan city. But based on a physical description of the target provided by Afghan forces on the ground, the crew instead fired 211 shells at a hospital operated by the international charity, Doctors Without Borders, that was 450 meters away.

“This was a tragic mistake,” Army General John Campbell, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said in Kabul. “This is an example of human and process error. It was directly the result of avoidable human error.”

Campbell said that some military personnel involved in the incident have been suspended from duties pending possible disciplinary action, and that the U.S. intends to assist Doctors Without Borders in rebuilding the hospital.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the conclusions reached by the U.S. were in line with the findings in a separate NATO probe.

“This U.S. investigation,” Ghani said, “did not ignore any facts or evidence, admits mistakes that were made, and will enable the authorities to learn from the mistakes and hold people accountable where appropriate.”

The U.S. military investigators said they found no evidence that the gunship crew knew they were attacking the wrong target. The intended target was an Afghan National Directorate of Security compound, which Afghans had identified as a Taliban insurgent command and control site.

Campbell said, “The personnel who requested the strike and those who executed it from the air did not undertake appropriate measures to verify that the facility was a legitimate military target.”

Days before the attack, Doctors Without Borders had provided geographic coordinates of its hospital to U.S. military authorities, but the report said “this mission critical information” was never handed to the crew of the gunship.

The barrage on the hospital lasted 29 minutes before commanders realized the mistake, even as hospital staff members made 18 attempts to call or text U.S. and Afghan authorities about the attack as it was occurring.

Many of the doctors and nurses at the hospital were killed instantly, and some patients who could not be moved to safety, died in the ensuing flames from the attack. At least another 37 people were injured, with investigators concluding there likely were still other casualties.

The incident was one of the worst incidents of civilian casualties during the 14 years the U.S. has been involved in military actions in Afghanistan that stemmed originally from the 2001 al-Qaida terrorist attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Within days of the October 3 incident, President Barack Obama called Joanne Liu, the president of Doctors Without Borders, to apologize for the mistaken attack and pledge that a full investigation would be conducted.

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Source: VOA News: Economy and Finance


 

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