KABUL, Afghanistan - August 26,
2008 - The United Nations said on Tuesday it had
found convincing evidence that 90 Afghan civilians, most of them children, were
killed in air strikes by U.S.-led coalition forces in western Afghanistan last
week.
The issue of civilian casualties has driven a rift between the Afghan government and its NATO backers with President Hamid Karzai saying earlier this month that air strikes had achieved nothing and had only succeeded in killing ordinary Afghans.
"Investigations by UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) found convincing evidence, based on the testimony of eyewitnesses, and others, that some 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children, 15 women and 15 men," U.N. Special Envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide said in a statement."
The U.S. military has launched an investigation into the incident, after saying it was unaware of any civilians killed in what it said was a single air strike in the Shindand district of western Afghanistan on Friday. Jets had targeted a known Taliban commander and killed 30 militants, the U.S.-led coalition said.
Ed. Note: Whenever the U.S. kills innocent civilians, it always claims that it was targeting a known terrorist. Either the U.S. military is lying or the intelligence is faulty. In either case, they should not be bombing areas where civilians live. Furthermore, how do we really know that the target has done anything to deserve being labeled a terrorist, since the U.S. definition of terrorist has become vague and much too broadly applied?