Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)- led organization International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) told the Agence France-Presse, a news agency, that the ISAF was aware that there were reports that civilians were allegedly killed in an airstrike called in Afghanistan recently [1].

US Marines seen patrolling in Afghanistan.

The airstrike occurred in the Helmand province's Nawzad district in southern Afghanistan after a US Marine base came under attack from small-arms fire.

During the airstrike the marines targeted two houses, which resulted in the death of 14 people-- five girls, seven boys, and two women, according to a statement sent out by the provincial government. Six others were wounded.

Since the beginning of this fighting season (the beginning of this Spring) in Afghanistan, authorities have said that NATO has killed 52 people. Most of them were civilians, who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Occurrences such as if a Taliban insurgent runs out of ammunition, he might run into a house where a civilian is and when engaged, the civilian is mistaken to be working with the insurgent and is accidentally killed.

Afghan civilians seen near plumes of smoke caused by a NATO airstrike.

These NATO strikes are known to be some of the major factors that are creating a widening rift between Afghan president Hamid Karzai and his US backers. It's a sensitive issue, and one that has led Karzai to order his defense minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, to take control of NATO night raids of civilian homes, where mistakes occur most commonly.

Civilian casualties occurring on a regular basis is unfortunate, however the reality is is that with war come these unfortunate situations. The military technology that the US possesses vastly improved the casualty ratio of not only military but also the civilian personnel. Gone are the days of unprecise droppings of bombs, because today we have at our disposal the most precise weapon systems in the world. After the World War II, there were close to 30.5 million civilian casualties. At a smaller perspective, 3.8 million civilians were killed in Germany alone over a period of only about 3 years (1942-45) [2]. Since 2001, the civilian death total in Afghanistan was 2,777 (as of May 9, 2011) [3].

I am not saying that killing civilians is okay. The work we are doing to rid the country of Afghanistan as well as the rest of the world of the evil terrorist organization of the Taliban is important. In the bigger perspective, we may be saving many more lives than the ones we are accidentally taking at this moment. A world without terror may not be at our reach now, but if we keep working at it, who knows? Our military may never need to accidentally kill a civilian again.

-Luke

[1] Source: Al Jazeera News Article
[2] Source: History Learning Site Chart
[3] Source: ABC News Article