A study conducted by a US military adviser has found that drone strikes in Afghanistan during a year of the protracted conflict caused 10 times more civilian casualties than strikes by manned fighter aircraft. The new study, referred to in an official US military journal, contradicts claims by US officials that the robotic planes are…
By Trevor Keck In January, Afghan forces shot grenades and bullets at a remote village in Nangarhar province, in eastern Afghanistan. One civilian died, and villagers rushed six other injured residents to the hospital in Jalalabad. Nasir saw it all happen. He then had to beg $11,000 from friends and relatives to cover medical care…
KABUL — Afghan officials said Monday they demanded the pullout of U.S. Special Operations forces from an insurgency-wracked province because the U.S.-backed NATO command here for months has ignored residents’ allegations of severe abuses committed by the elite American troops and armed Afghan irregulars working with them. But NATO said its past inquiries found no…
Civilians harmed by Afghanistan’s security forces rarely receive assistance of any kind. Why that might soon change. A UN Dispatch interview. Source: Making Amends for Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan | UN Dispatch
KABUL — A report released Monday accuses Afghanistan’s army and police of failing to address civilian casualties as the country’s newly built forces assume responsibility for security during NATO’s military withdrawal. The Center for Civilians in Conflict, a Washington-based research organization, said in its report that “the capacity of the Afghan government and security forces…
The Afghanistan and Iraq wars taught the United States painful lessons about the need to limit harm to civilians and compensate victims for their suffering. Now Washington must turn that ad hoc progress into a permanent policy, followed not only by its military but also by those of its partners as well. Read the article in…
Newshour looks at the rapid expansion in the use of drone technology in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, and asks whether unmanned warfare needs new rules of engagement. Source: BBC World Service – Newshour Special: Drones
GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS CLAIM they’re ultra-precise killing machines that never, ever miss their targets. Outside groups say they’re covered in children’s blood. The fact is no one has a clue exactly how many militants and how many innocents have been slain in the U.S. drone war that spans from Pakistan to Somalia. Remember that before you…
The damaging impact of civilian casualties on combat operations is not a new lesson, but it is one that US defense forces have had to continually relearn. Historically, civilian protection and efforts to address harm become priorities only when external pressures demand attention. As the Pentagon reshapes its defenses and fighting force for the next…