U.S. general says Afghan hospital strike was 'human error'

World

U.S. general says Afghan hospital strike was ‘human error’

A deadly airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital was “caused primarily by human error,” Gen. John Campbell, U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said Wednesday, detailing that some soldiers and airmen have already been suspended and promising other disciplinary action. The Oct. 3 air raid on the French charity’s hospital during a Taliban offensive in the city of Kunduz killed at least 30 people, sparked an avalanche of global condemnation and forced the facility to close.

An AC-130 gunship hit the hospital instead of a nearby Afghan intelligence compound that was thought to have been commandeered by Taliban fighters, he said, blaming in part the fatigue of U.S. troops who had been battling a Taliban offensive for five days. He added that the mistake was “compounded by process and equipment failures,” which led to a confusion in targets. The general did not address claims by Afghan officials that the hospital had been overrun by the Taliban, but a copy of one of the reports, obtained by the AP, says there is no evidence to support that. It also says there was no hostile activity observed at the hospital. Adding to the controversy, the timeline given by Campbell differed in part from MSF’s own account of the attack, which the charity has said lasted for around an hour, in which the hospital staff made several attempts to call or text U.S. and Afghan authorities.