Footage of a
controversial US aerial bombing in Afghanistan this month shows the
strike targeted Taliban militants, according to the commander of
U.S. Central Command.
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus told National Public Radio that he
recently watched a video recorded by an aerial bomber involved in
the May 4 firefight in Farah province between a joint U.S.-Afghan
force and Taliban insurgents. The battle resulted in the death of
Afghan civilians -- with U.S. estimates ranging from 20 to 30, but
the Afghan government's as high as 140.
"I was in Kabul the other night [and was] briefed by the
brigadier general who I appointed to carry out an investigation of
this particular incident, and there is indeed video from a B-1
bomber that very clearly shows bombs hitting individuals who are
the Taliban who are reacting to the movements of the Afghan and
coalition forces on the ground," he said.
Petraeus said the video, which likely will be shown to the media
at a later date, does not disprove that civilians were killed, nor
did he dispute that they were. But the footage proves that the
targets of the strikes were Taliban insurgents waging an ambush
against the combined U.S.-Afghan force, he said.
"I think we agree, actually, that there were civilians killed in
this incident along -- again -- with a substantial number of
Taliban," he said. "This is a very tough case, because this was a
very significant ambush of an Afghan force that had our advisers
with it, and it was in response to that force -- literally rescuing
that force at the request of Afghan political leaders as well as
Afghan police and military leaders -- that our forces then moved in
a very tough fight and these bombs were dropped."
Following the reports of high civilian casualties, Petraeus
assigned a brigadier general to join Afghan counterparts in
investigating the Farah province battle. Petraeus said he received
a nearly three-hour briefing from the brigadier general and said
the United States will apply "lessons learned" from the incident
once they are fully understood. Petraeus expressed concern about
civilian causalities and described the tension between the need to
protect the Afghan population but also to allow for coalition
forces to use the capabilities - including air strikes - at their
disposal.
"We are there to secure the people, to serve them; it's a big
challenge," he said. "Indeed, we don't want our forces going into
combat with one hand tied behind their back, but we also cannot
take actions that might produce tactical victories but undermine
the efforts strategically.
"And that's this tension, if you will, between, again, employing
all the assets that we have, but making sure that we do it in a way
that doesn't undermine the overall effort -- which is the result
if, indeed there, [are] significant civilian casualties," he
added.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, speaking about the Farah
battle earlier this month, expressed the need to continue reducing
civilian casualties in Afghanistan. In a May 11 news conference at
the Pentagon, he cited one measure of progress -- a 40 percent drop
since in the first few months of 2009 compared to a year
earlier.
"There is a tremendous effort going on on our part to try and
avoid civilian casualties," he said. [ANN thanks the American
Forces Press Service]