The US military has launched its biggest ground offensive to date against Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants in Afghanistan, as reverberations from the weekend killing of nine children in an airstrike continued to cast a pall over the countryâs efforts at recovery. A US military spokesman acknowledged that the attack on a remote village in the far south of Ghazni province may not have killed its intended target. Villagers have told US investigators that Mullah Wazir, a low-ranking local Taliban organiser, left the village 10 days before the strike, US spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Hilferty said at US headquarters in Bagram.
| "I'm gettin' outta here. Let the kids take any heavy metal that comes this way..." |
Hilferty said the strike was based on "very clear actionable intelligence" that Wazir, who US forces say was responsible for the October slaying of two Afghan road workers, was at home when the US warplanes planes struck. A team investigating the incident has gathered DNA from the site to try to establish the identity of an adult male killed in the attack, he said. Earlier, AFP reported that the US military said it has reason to believe the body was Wazirâs. "We have received corroborated intelligence that give us a very good indication that this was the person we were after, the intended target," US Central Command spokesman Pete Mitchell said.
| "Ummm... Looks like him. He's got a turban and everything..." |
But villagers have told reporters that the dead man was Abdul Hamid, a local resident aged in his 20s. Seven boys and two girls who had been playing nearby also were killed.
"Mom! We're gonna go over to Abdul Hamid's house and watch him roll his eyes and jump up and down!"
"Okay, kids. Watch out for A10s, though!" |
Although the military has apologised for the deaths and promised to provide aid to help the village, the mistake has provoked widespread concern that the US militaryâs killing of civilians in airstrikes targeting terrorists could further alienate Afghans from the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, and the international recovery effort in Afghanistan.
| Maybe the local Pashtuns should keep their kids away from mullahs? |
Hilferty acknowledged the incident risked turning Afghans against the US-led coalition. "Such mistakes could make the Afghan people think ill of the coalition," he said.
| Yeah. Dead kids do that. It also seems like every time there's a Taliban that gets banged, there's a passel of kids that check out, too. I'm wondering at that string of coincidences... |
Meanwhile, the new offensive, code-named Operation Avalanche, is targeting areas in the south and east where a resurgent Taliban guerrilla force has been attacking humanitarian workers and government officials, placing a huge swath of the country off limits to international aid efforts. The operation involves 2,000 ground troops from the 11,500-strong US-led coalition force, making it the largest operation yet involving ground forces in Afghanistan. "This new operation will deny sanctuary to and disrupt the activities of terrorist forces simultaneously throughout the eastern, southeastern, and southern regions of Afghanistan in order to secure and stabilise the area, to set the conditions for reconstruction and political improvement, and to promote freedom of movement and commerce," a military statement said. The military refused to give further details, except to warn the operation would be bigger than any before. Despite repeated US operations against Taliban strongholds in recent months, the group seems to have been gaining in strength. Operation Avalanche takes over from Operation Mountain Resolve, which formally wound down at the weekend, the military said. That operation targeted the inaccessible, mountainous regions of Nuristan and Kunar in the northeast, a stronghold of Islamic militant leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and one of the areas where Osama bin Laden has most recently been rumoured to be hiding. The operation uncovered thousands of hidden weapons and ammunition rounds, but there were no reports that any wanted terrorist leaders were captured or killed.
| Of course not. They left for Pakistan as soon as it started... |
Six civilians died during the operation when a house was hit in an airstrike that was apparently based on faulty intelligence. |