More civilian casualties from US air strikes in Afghanistan: Bush satisfied!

We will hear much more about precision bombings from now on. The numbers of civilian casualties may not change but the rhetoric will. Of course Bush supports bomber McNeil. It is virtually inevitable that if airstrikes are called when the Taliban take refuge in civilian structures such as homes etc. that there will be more civilian casualties. What the US and allies care about is their casualties. Afghan casualties are an affair of public relations. Actually this is probably true of all casualties! It is just that negative homeland opinion is regarded as more of a problem than Afghan opinion. This is short sighted because negative Afghan opinion helps the Taleban more than the military successes help the occupiers--sorry I meant ISAF, International Security Assistance Forces.

Afghans 'wounded in air strike'

The injured said they were at a market when the aircraft struck
About 50 Afghan civilians have been wounded in an air strike by US-led forces on a group of Taleban leaders holding a meeting in Helmand province.
Witnesses have told the BBC that a large number of civilians were killed.

The attack on Thursday night reportedly targeted Dadullah Mansour, the group's military commander in the south, and Abdul Rahim, its commander in Helmand.

The Afghan defence ministry said its intelligence reports indicated three militants, including Rahim, had died.

Officials are trying to confirm if Dadullah Mansour, the brother of the late Taleban military commander, Mullah Dadullah, was among those killed.

The Taleban leaders had gathered to watch the public execution of two people on charges of co-operating with the government, ministry spokesman Gen Zahir Azimi said.

'Precision airstrike'

The US-led military coalition could not confirm Gen Azimi's account, but confirmed it had conducted an airstrike against "two notorious Taleban commanders" in a remote area of Baghran district in northern Helmand.

"During a sizable meeting of senior Taliban commanders, coalition forces employed precision-guided munitions on their location after ensuring there were no innocent Afghans in the surrounding area," the coalition statement said.



The coalition gave no word of casualties, but a BBC reporter in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, says about 50 people were admitted to hospital there with injuries.

The injured said they had been at a market when the bombardment happened and that there had been a large number of civilian deaths.

Helmand's police chief, Mohammad Hussein Andiwal, confirmed that wounded civilians had been admitted to hospital.

"I can confirm there were heavy bombardments," he told the Reuters news agency.

"We have heard of heavy casualties too and have sent a team to investigate this."

The news of civilian casualties comes only days after the secretary-general of Nato said it was considering the use of smaller bombs in Afghanistan to try to curb the rising number of civilians killed during operations against the Taleban.

Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, recently warned Western troops against treating Afghan lives cheaply.


Bush hower is satisfied with attempts to limit civilian casualties.

Bush satisfied with efforts to spare Afghan civilians: spokesman Fri Aug 3, 3:44 PM ET



WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush is "absolutely satisfied" that the US military does everything it can to spare civilians when conducting airstrikes in Afghanistan, the White House said Friday.



"He's absolutely satisfied that our military does everything in its power to avoid innocent loss of life," spokesman Scott Stanzel said two days before Bush was due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the Camp David retreat.

More than 50,000 US and NATO-led troops fighting the resurgent Taliban Islamist militia are under pressure from rights groups and the government to avoid civilian deaths during their operations.

"That's an issue that I think highlights the great difference between the United States and its allies in prosecuting the war on terror and the people that were going against, which is people who specifically target innocent civilians, women and children, for kidnapping, killing," said Stanzel.

"We mourn every loss of innocent life, and we do more than has ever been done before to avoid that unfortunate situation," said the spokesman.