U.S., Afghanistan to probe hospital attack
Doctors Without Borders says a ‘war crime’ has occurred.
U.S. jet fighters were accused of “sustained bombing” of a trauma center operated by Doctors Without Borders that killed 22.
The U.S. and Afghan governments vowed Sunday to jointly investigate the attack on a hospital in Kunduz that killed 22 people, as street-by street battles continued between government forces and Taliban fighters and officials warned of a looming humanitarian crisis for civilians trapped in the city
Amid accusations that U.S. jet fighters were responsible for what Doctors Without Borders said was a “sustained bombing” of their trauma center in Kunduz, President Barack Obama and Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani promised investigations. Obama said he expected a full accounting of the circumstances, and that he would wait for those results before making a judgment. He said the U.S. would continue working with Afghanistan’s government and its overseas partners to promote security in Afghanistan.
Some top U.S. officials said the circumstances surrounding the incident remain murky, but others indicated the U.S. may have been responsible. Army Col. Brian Tribus, a spokesman for American forces in Afghanistan, said Saturday that a U.S. airstrike “in the Kunduz vicinity” around 2:15 a.m. Saturday morning “may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility.”
U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity said American special operations forces advising Afghan commandos in the vicinity of the hospital requested the air support when they came under fire in Kunduz. The officials said the AC-130 gunship responded and fired on the area, but U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said it’s not certain yet whether that was what destroyed the hospital.
The officials also said the senior U.S. military investigator is in Kunduz but hasn’t yet been able to get to the site, a contested area between the Afghans and the Taliban militants.
Carter said he believes the U.S. will have better information in the coming days, once U.S. and international investigators get access to the hospital site.
Doctors Without Borders issued a statement Sunday expressing its “clear assumption that a war crime has been committed,” after earlier saying that “all indications” were that the international coalition was responsible for the early Saturday morning bombing.
Christopher Stokes, the charity’s general director, said the organization wants an independent investigation and may not be satisfied with an inquiry conducted by the U.S. and Afghan governments.