Did Airstrikes in Afghanistan Last Week Kill Civilians? U.S. and U.N. Disagree
The American military moved unusually quickly to release the results of its own internal investigation into the airstrikes, declaring on Tuesday
that an "investigation was conducted independently and concluded that there were no civilian casualties." But the next day, Wednesday, the United Nations mission in Afghanistan took the unusual step of issuing a series of four posts on Twitter saying that its own investigation found that at least 10 civilians had been killed.
Asked about the divergent accounts, Liam McDowall, director of strategic communications for the United Nations mission, said, "The U.N. has over the past decade proved itself to be the most credible
and reliable source for information about the devastating impact of the conflict on civilians in Afghanistan." "The U.N. in Afghanistan is, given its unsparing focus on safeguarding the lives of Afghan civilians, subject to regular criticism from all parties to the conflict," Mr. McDowall added.
10, 2017
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — Mohammad Anas, a college student, sheltered with friends
and relatives in a mosque as they listened, terrified, to the boom of American airstrikes pummeling Taliban positions near their village in northern Afghanistan on Nov. 3.
The United Nations confirmed the broad outlines of Mr. Anas’s account, saying
at least 10 civilians were killed in airstrikes on Nov. 4 in Kunduz Province.
the local area indicated treatment of people with wounds from armed conflict."
But a Times reporter saw six wounded patients in the Kunduz Regional Hospital on Nov. 4 who said they were victims of the airstrikes. that no hospitals or clinics in
In June 2016, also in the Chardara District where the airstrikes last Saturday occurred, Afghan officials and local residents claimed
that American airstrikes on a Taliban prison killed 7 to 16 prisoners.