US MILITARY officials have begun an investigation into the deaths of scores of civilians killed in US airstrikes in western Afghanistan earlier this week, in what may be one of the deadliest such attacks since the ousting of the Taliban in 2001.
Local officials in the western province of Farah said the bombing runs by US forces early on Tuesday may have resulted in the deaths of more than 100 civilians in the Bala Buluk district, close to the Iranian border.
Women and children were among the bodies found in two villages targeted in the airstrikes, the International Committee of the Red Cross said after it sent a team to the area.
The Red Cross team saw “dozens of bodies in each of the two locations that we went to”, a spokeswoman said. “There were bodies, there were graves, and there were people burying bodies when we were there.”
According to Farah officials, children, women, and elderly men were herded into several housing compounds after fighting erupted in the area earlier this week. But US fighter aircraft later targeted the compounds, killing most of the people sheltering inside.
News of the high number of casualties spread across Afghanistan yesterday, deepening the resentment felt by ordinary Afghans at the rate of civilian deaths caused by US and Nato military operations in the country.
It also cast a pall over Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s first meeting with US president Barack Obama in Washington yesterday. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said the Obama administration “deeply” regretted the loss of life and pledged a full review of the incident.
The US military has sent a brigadier general to Farah to lead an investigation. Afghan military and police officials will also form part of the investigative team.
Mr Karzai, who has repeatedly condemned the civilian death toll resulting from fighting between Nato-led forces and insurgents in Afghanistan, described the deaths as “unjustifiable and unacceptable”.
In an address in Washington the day before, Mr Karzai said the success of the Obama administration’s new strategy on Afghanistan, which includes the deployment of more than 17,000 extra troops, depends on “making sure absolutely that Afghans don’t suffer – that Afghan civilians are protected”.
The Afghan president said: “We must be conducting this war as better human beings”, and recognise that “force won’t buy you obedience”.
Meanwhile, US defence secretary Robert Gates flew into Kabul yesterday for an unannounced visit.
“I just want to get a sense out on the ground level what the needs are, what the challenges are, what the solutions to the some of the problems are,” said Mr Gates.
The Red Cross and non-governmental organisations operating in Afghanistan have warned that the deployment of extra troops in the next months is likely to lead to more fighting and civilian casualties.
According to the UN, last year’s civilian death toll in Afghanistan was the highest since the Taliban government fell eight years ago. Out of the almost 2,200 civilians killed last year, about 55 per cent died as a result of insurgent attacks and nearly 40 per cent as a result of actions taken by US, Nato and Afghan security forces.