"Civilian" casualties in Afghanistan, enemy propaganda

NY Times:

A senior British commander in southern Afghanistan said in recent weeks that he had asked that American Special Forces leave his area of operations because the high level of civilian casualties they had caused was making it difficult to win over local people.

Other British officers here in Helmand Province, speaking on condition of anonymity, criticized American Special Forces for causing most of the civilian deaths and injuries in their area. They also expressed concerns that the Americans’ extensive use of air power was turning the people against the foreign presence as British forces were trying to solidify recent gains against the Taliban.

An American military spokesman denied that the request for American forces to leave was ever made, either formally or otherwise, or that they had caused most of the casualties. But the episode underlines differences of opinion among NATO and American military forces in Afghanistan on tactics for fighting Taliban insurgents, and concerns among soldiers about the consequences of the high level of civilians being killed in fighting.

A precise tally of civilian deaths is difficult to pin down, but one reliable count puts the number killed in Helmand this year at close to 300 civilians, the vast majority of them caused by foreign and Afghan forces, rather than the Taliban.

“Everyone is concerned about civilian casualties,” the senior British commander said. “Of course it is counterproductive if civilians get injured, but we’ve got to pick up the pack of cards that we have got. Other people have been operating in our area before us.”

After months of heavy fighting that began in early 2006, the British commanders say they are finally making headway in securing important areas such as this town, and are now in the difficult position of trying to win back support among local people whose lives have been devastated by aerial bombing.

American Special Forces have been active in Helmand since United States forces first entered Afghanistan in late 2001, and for several years they maintained a small base outside the town of Gereshk. But the foreign troop presence was never more than a few hundred men.

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Blaming US bombing for civilian casualties is ridiculous. In almost all cases the bombing is called in when forces are in a firefight with the Taliban. That means that some of the soc called civilians are Taliban troops and any others are their human shields. All those deaths should be on the Taliban and the Brits should not be pimping Taliban propaganda to the NY Times and the Times should have more sense than to run it without proper balance of what really happens in these engagements.

Typically they begin with a Taliban attempt to ambush our forces. When the fire fight ensues, the Taliban on occasion retreat to where civilians are and continue to fire on our forces. The Taliban by failing to wear identifying uniforms put real civilians at risk and their cowardly hiding among the civilians when they are caught is the real war crime that the Times should be reporting.