(Afghan President) Karzai orders 'human shield' probe

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/05/23/afghanistan.karzai/index.html

Karzai orders 'human shield' probe

(CNN) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into reports of the deaths of 16 civilians killed while apparently being used as human shields during fighting around Kandahar.

The reports indicated that while Taliban fighters were on the run from coalition forces in the Panjwayi district, they took refuge in civilian homes, which were then bombed by coalition forces, according to a news release from the Afghanistan government.

"While expressing concern at the Coalition Forces' decision to bomb civilian areas, the president strongly condemned the terrorists' act of cowardice to hide behind civilians and use them as human shields," the release said on Tuesday.

The incident happened Monday, according to the Coalition Press Information Center, which reported as many as 80 deaths in the operation.

[cliss]

1. I wish Mr. Karzai lots of luck.

He's going to have a tough time convincing them in Washington, since he's a puppet.

Well-dressed, but Unocal puppet nonetheless.

Mr. Karzai has been upset before about US misbehavior in Afghanistan. I think the most recent was when the US dropped some bombs on a house. About 20 people were killed. Oops. The US said that Al-Zarkawi was invited to a dinner party, and they got the wrong directions.

Sorry.....not.

Nothing came of that outrage, by the way. There have been lots of anti-US demonstrations there, lots of anger and resentment.

Why doesn't the US take Afghanistan seriously, just because they installed the leader?

[UpInArms]

2. Afghanistan??? You mean we're still there?

I thought we "won" that war :sarcasm:

[Psephos]

6. We're still in Germany

thought we won that war, too.

Peace.

[legin]

3. You gotta admire the propaganda

Bombing raid causes civilian casualties.

Hey wait a minute the 'terrorists' were using them as human shields.

Officially off that hook.

:puke:

[gratuitous]

4. Somehow, the civilian dead will be made responsible

In spite of the fact that the supreme law of our land (the constitution and our treaty obligations) states that the military is forbidden from collective reprisals or indiscriminate use of force among civilian populations.

[legin]

5. Let's make an assumption

The right wing have been making an absolute hash of winning anybodies hearts and minds over the last few years.

So they say enough is enough, and set up a state of the art propaganda department.

So who is it and where is it ??

And it's people who definatly share their idealogy, so that may rule out the CIA.

Something like Geobals ministry of propaganda, but contracted out into the private sector (sort of like Air America), to give it the proper 'democratic free-market' look to it.

[daleo]

7. If it was cowardly of the Taliban to take refuge among their own people

Wasn't also cowardly to bomb them all from the air, just to avoid coalition casualties?

On edit - The point is, flinging around the accusation "cowardly" has no meaning in these situations. It seems like every side is willing to cause civilian casualties if it advances their military goals. Naturally, they all apologize later and blame the other side.

[UpInArms]

8. here's one of those human shields

Afghan child Mohammad Imran, who got wounded by a coalition airstrike in Panjwai district of Kandahar province, is treated at a hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Monday, May 22, 2006. U.S.-led coalition aircraft killed up to 80 suspected Taliban militants in a night airstrike on a rebel stronghold in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said. The local governor said 16 civilians also died. (AP Photo/Noor Khan)

editing to add:

http://ap.peninsulaclarion.com/pstories/20060522/3903596.shtml

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — U.S. warplanes hunting Taliban fighters bombed a religious school and mud-brick homes in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing dozens of suspected militants and 17 civilians in one of the deadliest strikes since the American-led invasion in 2001.

Pickup trucks ferried wounded villagers to a hospital in nearby Kandahar city. One woman, cradling her injured baby, recounted seeing "dead people everywhere" after the nighttime attack.

Taliban violence escalates each spring in Afghanistan with snow melting on mountain passes. But the scale of the assaults — and of U.S.-led coalition response — has been greater this year, as thousands of NATO forces prepare to deploy in the volatile south, the heartland of the ousted Islamic regime.

According to coalition and Afghan figures, the airstrikes brought the death toll of militants, Afghan forces, coalition soldiers and civilians to as many as 286 since Wednesday, when the recent storm of violence erupted in the south.

A coalition statement said it confirmed 20 Taliban killed in the attack on the village of Azizi in Kandahar province late Sunday and early Monday, while there were "an unconfirmed 60 additional Taliban casualties." One Afghan villager put the count of Taliban dead at 35-40.

U.S. commander Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry told The Associated Press the military was "looking into" whether civilians also were killed. Afghan officials said 17 civilians died.

...more...