Andrew Gumbel: Afghan civilians die as US plays it safe

The US military has killed hundreds of innocent civilians in Afghanistan in recent months because it has preferred to rely on the flawed intelligence of local warlords than risk casualties among its own forces on the ground, according to an ongoing survey published in yesterday's New York Times.

The survey, based on research work by the non-profit organisation Global Exchange, counted more than 800 innocent civilians killed – a count that is likely to rise as the survey extends beyond the 11 population centres inspected so far into more remote villages.

What differentiates the Afghan campaign from previous US military engagements is that the civilians, increasingly, have not been caught up in strikes on legitimate targets or killed as a result of bombs going astray – what in military parlance is known as "collateral damage" – but rather have been deliberately targeted by precision bombers acting on flawed instructions from their superiors.

The sense of unease at the continuing US campaign to uproot Taleban and al Qaeda fighters reached a head earlier this month when a series of airstrikes on the village of Kakrak, in Oruzgan province, mistakenly targeted a pair of engagement parties. Local officials counted 54 dead, most of them women and children, and at least 120 wounded.

Afghanistan's foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, told the Times his government needed to have more say in how air strikes are selected to avoid similar disasters in future.

"We have to be given a larger role," he said.

"If things do not improve, well, I will certainly pray for the Americans and wish them success, but I will no longer be able to take part in this."

According to many military analysts, the US military has too often resorted to overwhelming force, regardless of the size of the target. It has also relied on intelligence from local Afghans who might be acting on rumour, incomplete information or a malicious desire to settle local scores with US firepower.

The key al Qaeda commanders and former Taleban leaders, meanwhile, remain largely untouched. The US has tacitly acknowledged some of the problems, increased the involvement of its own ground forces and promised to cooperate more closely with the Afghan government – steps that have not apparently alleviated the problem to any significant degree.

A reliable count of civilian casualties has been near-impossible to achieve, and the US military has shown no interest in compiling one itself.

The total civilian casualty figures have been estimated anywhere from 600 to more than 4000 – the latter figure compiled in January by a New Hampshire university professor relying on individual media reports.

Casualties in Afghanistan also continue to pile up from other sources. A bus near Bamiyan yesterday hit an old landmine, killing 13 people on board and injuring six others.

- INDEPENDENT