Afghans Incensed by Air Attack on Village

   

An American air strike in western Afghanistan leaves many locals feeling that all civilians are branded as terrorists.

By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Kabul and Sadeq Behnam in Herat (ARR No. 299, 26-Aug-08)

Accusations and denials are swirling in Kabul as the Afghan government and the international military forces try to unravel the facts surrounding an August 21 air strike in the village of Azizabad, in the western province of Herat.

On one side is the Afghan government, which insists that over 90 civilians, mainly women and children, were killed in the attack, in Herat’s Shindand district. President Hamed Karzai has strongly condemned the bombing, and appointed a commission that has confirmed the accounts of local residents. The Afghan cabinet has issued a call to renegotiate the terms on which foreign forces operate in the country.

On the other side are the Americans, who insist that they were targeting a Taleban commander. According to a press release by the American-led Coalition forces, 30 people died, 25 of them Taleban insurgents. The remaining five were family members of insurgents, said the statement.

Amid the conflicting statements, anger is growing among Afghans.

“Americans think that all Afghans are terrorists, and they send rockets and missiles against us,” said Gulbuddin, a resident of Azizabad. “I myself buried more than 50 women and children. Are all of them terrorists?”

According to the New York Times, the bomb struck a gathering of local people who had gathered to honour the memory of a man who died one year earlier.

This was borne out by Fatima, 25, who lost eight members of her family, including her husband and children, in the attack. She spoke to IWPR from her hospital bed in Herat, where she wept and cursed those who carried out the air strike.

“We were holding a memorial service in our home,” she said, tears running down her face. “Suddenly the infidels attacked and I lost consciousness. When I came to, I was in hospital, and they told me that all of my family were dead and already buried. Was my two-year-old child a terrorist? Then am I not also a terrorist? Why did they let me live?”

Lieutenant Nathan Perry, spokesperson for the American-led coalition, told IWPR that the air strike was aimed at Taleban insurgents, specifically a commander called Mullah Siddiq. Thirty people died, he said – 25 terrorists and five members of Mullah Siddiq’s family.

The Afghan government has confirmed the accounts of residents, and has issued heated condemnations of the attack.

Naimatullah Shahrani, the Minister for the Hajj who was appointed head of a presidential commission tasked with investigating the Azizabad attack, told IWPR that no insurgents were killed.

“According to our investigation, there was not a single armed individual from the opposition in the area,” he said. “During the air attack on Azizabad, 90 people died, including women, children and old men. This is cruel behaviour on the part of the foreign forces, and it can greatly complicate the security situation.”

At an August 25 meeting, the Afghan cabinet called on the defence and foreign ministries to open negotiations with the international forces on the terms of their presence in Afghanistan. It demanded an end to air strikes against civilians, as well as searches and detentions it termed “illegal”.

The Azizabad bombing is the latest in a string of attacks on civilian targets in the past few months.

In July, American bombs hit a wedding party in the southeastern province of Nangarhar, killing at least 47 people, including the bride.

American forces are still investigating the latest strike in Herat province, but Lt. Perry insisted that US forces target only insurgents.

“Every operation is based on confirmed and re-confirmed information and data,” he insisted. “But I cannot speak about those informants.”

In the past two months, civilians have also been killed in Nuristan, Laghman, and Kunar, according to Afghan government sources. The Azizabad incident is by far the bloodiest incident, but it is by no means isolated.

Afghan government sources insist such events are the result of poor coordination between the Afghan National Army and its foreign military allies.

“The Coalition forces coordinated the ground attack [in Azizabad], but there was no coordination on the air strike,” said General Zahir Azimi, addressing journalists in Kabul. “When you study the area that was bombed, you can see that there was no need for an air strike.”

Lt. Perry, however, maintains that the attack was carried out in full coordination with the ANA.

“The international forces, along with commando forces from the ANA, ran into an ambush on the way to the area where Mullah Siddiq’s men were gathering, and had to call in an air strike,” he told IWPR.

Afghans are convinced that the Americans are relying on false information.

“The Americans act on the basis of incorrect information, and bomb residential areas,” said Abdul Salaam Qazizada, a member of parliament from Herat. “If this continues, hatred for the Americans will increase day by day.”

President Karzai has sent funds to Azizabad to compensate those who have lost relatives. Those whose relatives are killed receive a payment of 100,000 afghani (2,000 US dollars) for each death; the injured receive 50,000 afghani.

Precise information about the scale of compensation in the Azizabad case has not been released; according to a source close to the government, three million afghani has been sent so far.

Residents of Azizabad protested when the commission attempted to distribute funds, throwing rocks and forcing them out of the area.

A television report showed one angry father, who screamed at the camera, “Karzai can keep his money. I want my child. Will this money bring him back?”

Many Afghans are demanding that the government react resolutely to this latest incident. So far, Karzai has issued a condemnation, and sacked two officers from the 207 Corps, an army unit based in Herat.

“It is interesting that the ministry of defence says it did not know about this attack in advance, but that they sacked two officers,” said Mohammad Nabi Asir, a political analyst in Mazar-e-Sharif. “It clearly shows that the Afghan government cannot do anything more than that, they have no power over the Americans. They are just trying to calm people down.”

Sultan Mohammad Aurang, a member of parliament from Badakhshan in the northeast of Afghanistan, called for more serious measures.

“It is useless to ask the president. He has no power or authority. All he can do is condemn these air strikes. We should be talking directly and quite seriously to NATO, demanding that they do not target civilians.”

The damage this latest incident has done to the relationship between the foreign forces and the Afghan population is severe, and could be lasting. Some analysts believe it will fuel the insurgent movement that is squeezing the international forces in many areas of the country.

“The Taleban were better than this puppet government and its masters,” said Nur Ahmad, 55, who said he was saved by a rescue team in Azizabad after being buried in rubble by the attack. “The Taleban would at least distinguish between civilians and enemies. But these thugs think everybody is their enemy.”

Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR staff reporter based in Mazar-e-Sharif. Sediq Behnam is a freelance reporter in Herat.