Posted on Oct 6, 2015
"Gen. Campbell: Afghans requested U.S. airstrike in Kunduz"
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From: Military Times
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Monday that the botched airstrike on a hospital in Kunduz that killed at least 22 people Saturday came after a call for help from Afghan forces who were under fire in the Taliban-controlled city.
"The Afghan forces called in for fire to support them because they were under direct fire," Army Gen. John Campbell, the chief of U.S. Forces Afghanistan, told reporters at the Pentagon on Monday.
Campbell said the Defense Department's initial statement Saturday, that the airstrikes were "against insurgents who were directly firing upon U.S. service members," was incorrect.
U.S. Special Forces on the ground in Kunduz "continue to train, advise and assist at the tactical level," but those U.S. forces were not under direct fire at the time of the airstrike on the hospital, Campbell said.
He declined to discuss the rules of engagement for the Afghan mission, which top officials have said does not involve U.S. troops fighting alongside Afghans in ground-level combat and provides for air support to Afghans under fire only in limited circumstances.
Campbell's hastily scheduled news conference Monday came after an AC-130 gunship struck a hospital run by the international humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders. The aid group said it had recently provided the hospital's precise GPS coordinates to U.S. and Afghan forces precisely to avoid being hit.
Campbell said U.S. forces have launched an investigation, led by Army Brig. Gen. Richard Kim.
"If errors were committed, we will acknowledge them," Campbell said.
He declined to provide more details, saying the military investigation is ongoing.
The strike came amid fierce fighting in the city of Kunduz, which fell to the Taliban on Sept. 28. It was the first major city claimed by the Taliban in 14 years, and the Afghan army's defeat is raising questions about the need to further extend the U.S. military mission there.
Campbell is in Washington this week to testify on Capitol Hill about the U.S. military's plans in Afghanistan and the pace of the troop drawdown. He has provided to the White House several recommendations for next year and beyond, including options that keep the bulk of today's 9,800 troops in Afghanistan for another year, according to recent news reports.
President Obama's stated plan is to shrink the American footprint in Afghanistan by about half before next year and have it down to a small embassy-based mission of about 1,000 troops by the start of 2017.
Obama has vowed to end the 14-year military mission in Afghanistan before he leaves the White House in January 2017.
But the fall of Kunduz is raising questions about the Afghan security force's capabilities. And growing reports about activities of the Islamic State extremist group in Afghanistan is fueling concerns that an abrupt end to the U.S. military mission next year could create a power vacuum and new opportunities for extremists and insurgents.
The bombing of the hospital in Kunduz likely will leave the region with few options for medical care during the current fight. The aid group said it was the only free trauma care hospital in northern Afghanistan.
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2015/10/05/us-commander-afghans-requested-us-airstrike-kunduz-doctors-without-borders/73371730/
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Monday that the botched airstrike on a hospital in Kunduz that killed at least 22 people Saturday came after a call for help from Afghan forces who were under fire in the Taliban-controlled city.
"The Afghan forces called in for fire to support them because they were under direct fire," Army Gen. John Campbell, the chief of U.S. Forces Afghanistan, told reporters at the Pentagon on Monday.
Campbell said the Defense Department's initial statement Saturday, that the airstrikes were "against insurgents who were directly firing upon U.S. service members," was incorrect.
U.S. Special Forces on the ground in Kunduz "continue to train, advise and assist at the tactical level," but those U.S. forces were not under direct fire at the time of the airstrike on the hospital, Campbell said.
He declined to discuss the rules of engagement for the Afghan mission, which top officials have said does not involve U.S. troops fighting alongside Afghans in ground-level combat and provides for air support to Afghans under fire only in limited circumstances.
Campbell's hastily scheduled news conference Monday came after an AC-130 gunship struck a hospital run by the international humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders. The aid group said it had recently provided the hospital's precise GPS coordinates to U.S. and Afghan forces precisely to avoid being hit.
Campbell said U.S. forces have launched an investigation, led by Army Brig. Gen. Richard Kim.
"If errors were committed, we will acknowledge them," Campbell said.
He declined to provide more details, saying the military investigation is ongoing.
The strike came amid fierce fighting in the city of Kunduz, which fell to the Taliban on Sept. 28. It was the first major city claimed by the Taliban in 14 years, and the Afghan army's defeat is raising questions about the need to further extend the U.S. military mission there.
Campbell is in Washington this week to testify on Capitol Hill about the U.S. military's plans in Afghanistan and the pace of the troop drawdown. He has provided to the White House several recommendations for next year and beyond, including options that keep the bulk of today's 9,800 troops in Afghanistan for another year, according to recent news reports.
President Obama's stated plan is to shrink the American footprint in Afghanistan by about half before next year and have it down to a small embassy-based mission of about 1,000 troops by the start of 2017.
Obama has vowed to end the 14-year military mission in Afghanistan before he leaves the White House in January 2017.
But the fall of Kunduz is raising questions about the Afghan security force's capabilities. And growing reports about activities of the Islamic State extremist group in Afghanistan is fueling concerns that an abrupt end to the U.S. military mission next year could create a power vacuum and new opportunities for extremists and insurgents.
The bombing of the hospital in Kunduz likely will leave the region with few options for medical care during the current fight. The aid group said it was the only free trauma care hospital in northern Afghanistan.
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2015/10/05/us-commander-afghans-requested-us-airstrike-kunduz-doctors-without-borders/73371730/
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Airstrikes
Afghanistan Airstrikes
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Question: is it possible that the Afghanis faced with a need for coordinates in short order for the US to provide air support, they gave out the Hospitals location knowing full well that it was the hospital, but not having the knowledge or capability to give the proper GPS location of the attacking Taliban while engaged with the same?
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The news that the Afghan's called in the strike against the Doctor's Without Borders Hospital in Kunduz is very sad but exactly what I expected had happened.
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