p2pnet news view P2P | Politics:- “The ‘US-led coalition’ has, ’steadfastly rejected the civilian tolls from the August 22 strikes’ on Azizabad in Afghan, saying ‘only’ five to seven civilians died, ‘along with 30-35 Taliban rebels,’ p2pnet quoted Agence France-Presse as saying last week.

But in reality,  “more than 90 civilians’ died,” said AFP, and the chances are the tragedy would never have been uncovered had it not been for a widely dispersed camera phone video taken by a villager.

Now, “Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday expressed ‘personal regret’ for recent U.S. airstrikes that killed Afghan civilians, and pledged more accurate targeting in future,” says the intro to an Associated Press story.

The accompanying picture on the right shows a smiling US defense secretary Robert Gates shaking hands with Afghan defense minister Abdul Rahim Wardak.

“Gates said the U.S. military takes extraordinary precautions to avoid civilian casualties, but added, ‘It is clear that we have to work even harder’,” says AP.

p2pnet - Video shows Afghan child deaths, September , 2008
Agence France-Presse - US to begin new inquiry into Afghan civilian deaths, September 8, 2008
Associated Press - Gates expresses regret for civilian deaths, September 17, 2008

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 at 8:15 am and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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