NATO Airstrike In Afghanistan Kills Taliban Commanders and Civilians

ForexTV NewsDesk   |  February 13 2013 2:55 EST

ForexTV.com (New York) by Kaveh Eslampour

Last night four Taliban fighters and ten civilians were killed by NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. The strike occurred Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province, where insurgents hide in the rugged and forested terrain along the porous border with Pakistan.

Major Adam Wojack, a spokesperson for the ISAF, confirmed the attack in Kunar’s Shigal District. The target of the attack was the Taliban leader of the nearby Dangam district, called Commander Shahpour, and was believed to have ties to Al-Qaeda. The ISAF was “aware of reports” of civilian casualties and were looking into it. On their Twitter feed the ISAF said they “take every allegation of civilian casualties very seriously.”

The airstrike destroyed the house targeted, and damaged two neighboring houses, killing 10 civilians and injuring 5 others. The victims included the death of four women, five children between 8 and 13, and four teenagers wounded.

Kunar governor Fazlullah Wahidi alleged that “foreign forces carried out the attack by themselves without informing us” or including Afghan security forces.

In an official statement, Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the airstrike and ordered an investigation of the attack.

The issue of civilian deaths has become one of the greatest sources of tension between American and Afghan officials.

A UN Committee on the Rights of Children study found that the number of child casualties doubled in 2010-2011 due to a “lack of precautionary measures and use of indiscriminant force.” ISAF officials have said these claims are “categorically unfounded” and “false”, citing a study that says the ISAF has reduced the number of civilian casualties and claims insurgents comprise 84% of deaths and injuries.

The airstrike came hours after President Obama’s State of the Union address, where he announced that half of the 66,000 American troops will be returning home by the end of the year. 

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