Latest Updates: collateral damage RSS
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thabet
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thabet
Unnamed US officials have rejected reports that up to 90 Afghan civilians may have died in a controversial airstrike on a village. The US puts the figure at five civilian deaths. This contradicts accounts of the incident by the UN and other independent Afghan human rights organisations.
Related: Hamid Karzai condemns civilian deaths.
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thabet
Given the recent news on civilian deaths in Afghanistan, this report makes interesting reading:
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thabet
Human rights update from Afghanistan: The United States says an airstrike which may have killed over 80 civilians was “legitimate”.
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thabet
Ill-advised words and how the media works: Lyse Doucet is one of the BBC’s most experienced correspondents. Recently, she appeared at the Edinburgh International Television Conference to discuss the reporting of the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. In the midst of trying to explain the complexity of the conflict and the difficulties in reporting in the region, she said the media needs to report on the “the humanity of the Taliban”.
I can understand what she was saying — put simply not everyone with a big beard and gun who is unhappy with foreign troops on their soil is ‘Taliban’. There was a need to inform readers, viewers and listeners of the complexities of the situation on the ground, which I suppose is difficult due to the nature of the conflict and the commercial, corporate and political pressures contemporary news media find themselves under.
Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone will bother to understand her point. All people will become fixated on are her poor choice of words: “the humanity of the Taliban”. It matters not she said what we call “Taliban” maybe “diverse” and not all are interested in fighting British troops. It matters not that there were early warning signs about the possibility of a full scale eruption in the country due to a badly managed reconstruction programme. It doesn’t matter that she mentioned the countless civilians who are dying due to Coalition actions (’fairly’ or not), or that this was swept under the carpet when Prince Harry’s time in Afghanistan was being covered by the media. All that matters is that a BBC correspondent mentioned something about “the humanity of the Taliban”.
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thabet
Hamid Karzai has condemned the deaths of civilians who were killed by “unilateral operations” carried out by US airstrikes. This isn’t the first time Karzai has publicly responded to civilians death from American airstikes. Last year Karzai told 60 Minutes:
The US have deny killing civilians, and even the White House has intervened to pass comment on the incident. The only problem is there is little reason to believe what the US has to say about civilian deaths from its operations.
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thabet
Brave Warriors Of Afghanistan Update: The Taliban have killed three foreign female aid workers and their Afghan driver.
Meanwhile, here’s an update on human rights news from the Afghan front line: Four civilians were killed in a rocket attack by British troops in Afghanistan.
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thabet
The latest news on human rights from Afghanistan: Canadian soldiers opened fire on a speeding vehicle after its driver ignored repeated warnings not to approach a military convoy Sunday, killing two young children.
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thabet
More human rights news from Afghanistan: British troops in southern Afghanistan have killed four civilians after a vehicle failed to stop at a checkpoint.
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aziz
Huh? Israeli government feigns ignorance of cluster bomb use in the Lebanon War?
(via Sleeper Cell.)
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thabet
An update on human rights in Afghanistan: U.S.-led coalition troops have have killed eight Afghan civilians in an air strike in the western province of Farah during a raid against suspected militants, the U.S. military said.
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thabet
Human rights: A US air strike in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday killed 47 civilians, 39 of them women and children, an Afghan government investigating team says.
