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Pentagon Probing Deadly Special Forces Raid Near Kandahar
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"It just wasn't clear whom exactly we were dealing with,” said Stufflebeem. |
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Pentagon announced it was launching an official investigation into a special forces raid last week against reported Taliban and Al-Qaeda compounds north of Kandahar.
At least 15 Afghans were killed and another 27 captured during the January 23 operation, which was aimed at a purported Al-Qaeda ammunition storage site. A U.S. soldier was slightly wounded in the fighting. A large cache of munitions was also found at the compound and destroyed.
But following the raid, some local Afghans told officials of the new government that some of those killed by U.S. forces in the raid were actually fighters loyal to interim leader Hamid Karzai.
Pentagon officials conceded that shifting loyalties on the ground in Afghanistan have made it increasingly difficult to distinguish between allies and enemies.
General Richard Myers, the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced the start of a probe at a Pentagon news conference Wednesday, January 30, 2002.
"I don't think it was any sense on our part that we've done something wrong," Myers said. He said the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, General Tommy Franks, ordered the investigation because "when there are allegations, you've got to go run them to ground.''
Myers said it was too early to conclude that the wrong people had been killed or captured.
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld publicly conceded that it is difficult in some cases for the American military to distinguish friend from foe.
"It's perfectly possible to go in, get shot at, shoot back, and end up having someone say that ‘those people were Taliban' and somebody else say that ‘those people were people we were engaging in our local government,' and both can be true,'' Rumsfeld said.
Franks was told that "in their view, there were some people involved in that shoot-up that were killed who were not Taliban or Al-Qaeda," Rumsfeld said.
Some Afghans say Taliban renegades were handing over weapons to Karzai's government at the raided site. Those Afghans say some pro-Karzai figures were killed and others - including a police chief, his deputy and members of a district council - were among those arrested.
Myers said the affiliations of the 27 captives, who are being questioned in Kandahar, are not yet clear.
Two other U.S. military officers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it appears that at least some of those killed or captured were indeed Karzai supporters who were neither Al-Qaeda nor Taliban.
A spokesman for Franks, Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, said Wednesday that if some of the 27 captives being questioned in Kandahar turn out not to be Al-Qaeda or Taliban, they will be released.
The Pentagon's description of the raid, its target and the circumstances has changed over time. Shortly after the raid, for example, Myers said those taken prisoner were mainly Taliban.
On Monday, January 28, however, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs, Rear. Adm. John Stufflebeem, said, "It just wasn't clear whom exactly we were dealing with.”
Nonetheless, Stufflebeem said then that Franks was "confident in the intelligence derived as to what this appeared to be” - an enemy outpost and a legitimate target.
On Wednesday, Rumsfeld said U.S. forces had good reason to believe enemy fighters were in the compounds. He cited three "notable facts,'' such as the presence of large numbers of weapons, the absence of women and children and the fact that the U.S. troops were shot at as they breached the compound under the cover of darkness.
There are reports that the combat-related deaths of some Afghans, mistaken for either Taliban or Al-Qaeda, have created resentment towards U.S. military forces in some parts of Afghanistan.
In a related development, Rumsfeld said he was not yet ready to approve a resumption of prisoner transfers to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where more cells are being built at a makeshift prison camp. The last transfer took place January 21. Other officials said transfers were likely to resume within several days.
Rumsfeld said he wants to ensure the base had enough room for new prisoners before he allowed more to be taken there. He also said he wanted a better idea of how many prisoners ultimately would be held at the Cuban base. Estimates have ranged from about 400 to about 2,000, he said.
Meanwhile, in London, Karzai made another appeal to the international community to send more troops for a peacekeeping operation in his central Asian country.
"The Afghan people keep asking for more and more security forces in Afghanistan...as a measure of international guarantees of commitment of staying with Afghanistan, to see to it that Afghanistan gets the stability and peace that it requires," Karzai told a weekly meeting of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's cabinet.
Karzai urged the United Nations in New York to increase the size of the U.N.-mandated international military force and deploy it in other cities as well as the capital Kabul, saying security was vital for the recovery of his shattered nation.
Britain leads the force in Kabul, but is keen to hand over to another nation soon and is wary of patrolling other areas of Afghanistan. Blair, one of Bush's staunchest allies in the U.S. war on terror, has, however, pledged not to walk away from the country.
The United States has agreed to train and equip the creation of a new Afghan army, but has declined to commit its forces to a peacekeeping mission.
With additional reporting by S.M. Khalid
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