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Deadly U.S. strike in Kabul missed evidence of child present
An August U.S. drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 civilians was not caused by criminal negligence but by a series of errors, including not noticing a child minutes before the strike took place, an investigation by a military inspector general found on Wednesday.
The Aug. 29 strike killed 10 civilians, including seven children, in an incident the military previously called a “tragic mistake.”
Initially, the Pentagon had said the strike targeted an ISIS (Daesh) suicide bomber who posed an imminent threat to U.S.-led troops at the airport as they completed the last stages of their withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The strike came days after a Daesh suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. troops and scores of Afghan civilians who had crowded outside the airport gates, desperate to secure seats on evacuation flights, after U.S.-trained Afghan forces melted away and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan swept to power in the capital.
An investigation by the Air Force inspector general said the strike was caused by execution errors, interpreting information that supported certain viewpoints, and communication breakdowns, Reuters reported.
“It’s a regrettable mistake. It’s an honest mistake,” Lieutenant General Sami Said, the Air Force inspector general, told reporters.
According to Said, when he reviewed data and video footage, he found evidence of one child nearby about two minutes before the trigger was pulled on the drone strike.
But he added he noticed the presence of the child as he looked at the video well after the incident and that it would have been easy to miss at the time, Reuters reported.
Said did not recommend disciplinary action but said it would be up to commanders to make a decision on what, if any, accountability action should be taken.
Steven Kwon, co-founder and president of Nutrition and Education International, which employed one of the victims, said the investigation was “deeply disappointing and inadequate.”
“According to the Inspector General, there was a mistake but no one acted wrongly, and I’m left wondering, how can that be?” Kwon said in a statement.
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Kazakhstan calls for coordinated international engagement with Afghanistan
Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi has called for pragmatic and coordinated international engagement with Afghanistan, saying the country’s long-term stability is closely linked to the security and sustainable development of Central Asia.
Speaking during the general debate of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday, Tileuberdi said humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan remains essential but alone cannot break the cycle of poverty, displacement and dependency.
He said Kazakhstan supports a “pragmatic, coordinated and step-by-step” approach to international engagement with Afghanistan, with the United Nations playing a central role.
Tileuberdi also said Kazakhstan is working with the UN to operationalize the United Nations Regional Centre for the Sustainable Development Goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan in Almaty.
He said the success of the centre should be measured by the results and assistance it delivers to the region.
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