Afghan police said overnight bombing in Helmand province left 25 villagers dead, which by one count would mean at least 250 civilians have died by accident this year under fire from international forces and their Afghan allies.
By one estimate, that suggests civilian casualties are running at twice the rate of last year. Human Rights Watch has estimated that NATO and U.S. military operations killed 230 civilians in 2006.
And its not International forces, its American air support.
Americans are infamous for air support friendly fire incidents in Afghanistan, where they have killed our own troops, and in Iraq, where they killed British troops. Let alone the regular civilian casualties which have occurred this year almost every time air support operations were launched in Afghanistan.
Which is why land based tank and infantry missions are more successful in NOT killing villagers. You can see who the bad guys are, while from the air everyone looks the same, little blips on the computer screen.
This is a great way NOT to win hearts and minds. And all the PR fluff about the Taliban using human shields cannot cover up the fact that air support is a sure fire way to get civilians killed.
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The Mayor of Kabul condemns the US boneheads again. I can think of at least a dozen similar condemnations in the last six months alone. He will still be doing it next year - if he survives. There's always another stooge waiting to take the place of puppet rulers.
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