No US troops or officials will face disciplinary action for a drone strike in Kabul in August that killed 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children, Pentagon says.
The US has said it will not punish any of its military personnel for a botched drone strike in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul that killed 10 civilians including seven children.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had received a high-level review of the August 29 strike which made no recommendation of accountability.
“He approved their recommendations,” Kirby said.
“The secretary is not… calling for additional accountability measures.”
The civilians were killed during the final days before American troops withdrew from the country.
Immediately after the drone strike, Pentagon said the strike targeted a Daesh suicide bomber who posed an imminent threat to US-led troops at the airport as they completed the last stages of their withdrawal.
Reports emerged almost immediately that the drone strike in a neighbourhood west of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport had killed civilians including children.
The Pentagon later changed its stance, saying the strike was a “tragic mistake”.
An earlier investigation by the Air Force inspector general said the strike was caused by execution errors, interpreting information that supported certain viewpoints, and communication breakdowns.
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9 killed by U.S rocket attack today in Kabul, who are they?
1: Zemaray, Interpreter
2: Naseer, Army officer
2: Zameer, Shopkeeper
4: Faisal, Student
5: Farzad, Student
6: Ayat, 2 years old
7: Sumaya, 2 years old
8: Armin, 4 years old
9: Binyamen, 3 years old pic.twitter.com/pRajIF00Yd— Muslim Shirzad (@MuslimShirzad) August 29, 2021
Condolence payments
Kirby noted the high level of the threat facing US forces following a deadly bombing outside the Kabul airport that killed 13 troops, a context that he said was important.
“In this case, in the context of this particular strike … there was not a strong enough case to be made for personal accountability.”
While the Pentagon has said it is working to offer condolence payments and relocation to the family of Afghans killed in the strike, it is still in talks with an aid organisation that employed one of the victims.
READ MORE: US air strikes potentially killed 48,000 civilians since 9/11
Source: AFP
US won’t punish soldiers over civilian drone deaths in Kabul
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