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Strike reverberates NATO
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NATO Force in Afghanistan
Amid growing European discontent over the war in Afghanistan, the head of United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces apologized on Monday for an air strike that killed at least 27 civilians in the central part of the country on Sunday.
Sunday’s attack consisted of a US helicopter firing on several vehicles as they traveled towards Kandahar, the largest city in southern Afghanistan.
The political implications of the attack, which, according to some reports was carried out by helicopter-borne US Special Operations Forces (SOF), could be serious, not just in Afghanistan itself but also in Europe and Canada, were electorates have become increasingly opposed to their militaries’ involvement in the war.
This is especially true in the Netherlands, whose government collapsed on Saturday amid negotiations on whether to keep troops in Afghanistan. The air strike took place in a district controlled by the Dutch army, whose role, if any, in the attack has yet to be clarified.
The attack was carried out on the apparently mistaken belief that a convoy of vehicles was transporting Taliban fighters toward eastern Helmand province, where US and allied forces have launched a major offensive. That it took place in an area where Dutch forces are concentrated is likely to strengthen those factions in the Netherlands opposing any extension in The Hague’s participation in the war beyond August.
The Dutch troops have been central in the war effort, despite their low numbers. The The Dutch troop contribution to the Afghanistan mission is one of the highest per capita - has been subject to a higher casualty rate than other coalition forces, including the US, because of its troop postings in the dangerous southern province of Oruzgan.
This is the most lethal incident in which civilians were killed by US-led forces since last September, when a German-ordered air strike on fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban killed 140 people, the majority of whom were civilians. The strike at the weekend came despite the implementation of stricter rules of engagement regarding strikes ordered by McChrystal last summer when he took command of NATO/ISAF. ISAF officials insisted on Monday that the attack is being investigated to determine whether it violated those rules of engagement.
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