US captain tells of horror bombing mistake

12 Dec, 2001 09:14 AM3 mins to read

By ANDREW BUNCOMBE

WASHINGTON - A United States special forces officer has revealed how three of his men were killed when an airstrike they had ordered hit off course.

Captain Jason Amerine told the Washington Post from a military hospital in Germany, where he is recovering from shrapnel wounds: "I don't want them to be remembered for how they died but for what they did beforehand."

Amerine says that on September 11 the special forces group were in a central Asian country - possibly Uzbekistan - helping to train local soldiers.

When they were informed of the attacks in New York and Washington they watched news reports on the BBC.

Within days they were back at their base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

The group of 11 men were soon dispatched to Afghanistan.

They arrived in the night, dropped into enemy territory, to be met by a man who stepped out of the darkness and greeted them in English.

Over the next six weeks, the US Army 5th Special Forces group would work with that English-speaker, helping to organise anti-Taleban resistance and preparing to overthrow the regime.

At the time, that man, Hamid Karzai, was the head of a modest militia. He now heads Afghanistan's new Government.

"He was a sort of wild card," said Amerine.

"He was our biggest hope for a good Pashtun leader that could really rally the people and bring legitimacy and change to the Government."

Over the coming weeks, the men from Kentucky watched as Karzai's motley band swelled with more volunteers.

There were training sessions for the fighters and endless discussions with tribal elders about strategy and the way forward. Amerine says he drank many cups of green tea.

"We had to start from scratch to build up a force that was viable to fight the Taleban," he says.

"We began to help them organise, help them equip themselves ... getting them arms, getting them ammunition."

Of Karzai, he says: "I had to get to know he was more than just another politician and he had to get to know what my underlying agenda was.

"I was real careful in the beginning not to be very pushy."

Amerine tells how he and his men helped the Pashtun forces to take back the Uruzgan provincial capital of Tarin Kot, which was under Taleban control.

When the Taleban organised a counterattack, the special forces men called in US airstrikes to hit the enemy convoy.

As Karzai's forces started to approach the Taleban stronghold of Kandahar, they first had to take the town of Seyyed Mohammad Kalay, where the regime's fighters were dug in.

Once again the US soldiers called in airstrikes, but this time their aim was off.

"The bomb came in out of the blue and, you know, nailed us," says the West Point graduate.

"The Afghans, they seem like they took the brunt of it because there were massive casualties there."

Three of Amerine's men also died: Sergeants Brian Cody, Jefferson Davis and Daniel Petithory.

Karzai suffered a cut to his face.

"I took a time-out when I could go over and have a good cry a couple of times," says Amerine.

"Even amidst the tears I had to realise that we had done a hell of a lot and that was something that I was able to hold on to.

"It was a horrible way to end it but the surrender of Kandahar was coming [and] my friend was Prime Minister of Afghanistan."

- INDEPENDENT

Story archives: