KABUL: Pressure was growing yesterday for an international inquiry into a catastrophic US strike on an MSF hospital in Afghanistan, after the military detailed ‘tragic but avoidable’ errors but refused to say if there would be an independent investigation.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) slammed American forces for ‘gross negligence’ Wednesday after the US commander in Afghanistan said the October 3 strike on a charity-run hospital in the northern city of Kunduz was ‘caused primarily by human error’.
The raid killed 30 people and forced the charity to close the trauma centre – the only one in the region – while stirring an avalanche of global condemnation.
General John Campbell, speaking at Nato headquarters in Kabul Wednesday, blamed in part fatigue of US troops who had been battling a Taliban offensive in Kunduz for five days, adding that the mistake was “compounded by process and equipment failures”.
“The frightening catalogue of errors outlined today illustrates gross negligence on the part of US forces and violations of the rules of war,” MSF general director Christopher Stokes said after the announcement.
Campbell’s spokesman Brigadier General Wilson Shoffner refused to say if the US probe would be followed by an additional independent international investigation, for which MSF has repeatedly called.
Stokes reiterated the charity’s position, saying the investigation leaves “more questions than answers” and the attack “cannot only be dismissed as individual human error or breaches of the US rules of engagement”.
Human Rights Watch backed the MSF call, saying Campbell’s account of the attack “warrants a criminal investigation into possible war crimes” and voicing concern that decisions over any criminal charges remained within the US military chain of command. — AFP