Human error led to strike on Doctors Without Borders hospital, general says
| Washington
The US military鈥檚 airstrike of a Doctors Without Borders hospital last month was a 鈥渢ragic but avoidable accident,鈥� Gen. John Campbell, head of US forces in Afghanistan, said Wednesday, vowing that his command will learn from its 鈥渢ragic mistake.鈥�
The strafing of the hospital by an AC-130 gunship 鈥� an attack that lasted for nearly 30 minutes and resulted in the death of 30 staff and patients 鈥� was caused by 鈥渁voidable human error鈥� and has resulted in the suspension of several US troops from their duties, he added from Kabul in a video conference with reporters.聽
鈥淭he fact that we鈥檙e even doing this press conference today is unusual,鈥� said Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner, a command spokesman who joined General Campbell at the podium. He added that the US military wanted to demonstrate transparency, and to stress that it would immediately put into place new procedures to minimize the chances of such grievous errors happening again.
鈥淲e made a terrible mistake that resulted in unnecessary deaths,鈥� Brigadier General Shoffner said. 鈥淲e would never, ever do anything to harm innocent civilians.鈥�
The investigation is 鈥渙ne step toward full accountability,鈥� he added.
For starters, the hospital was misidentified by US service members, 鈥渨ho believed they were hitting a building several kilometers away,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淭hose executing the strike didn鈥檛 take proper procedures to verify that it was a good target.鈥�
This will change, he said, adding that the military will review its targeting verification procedures.
In making its attack run on the hospital, the gunship was relying on information provided by Afghan forces about a fight taking place at a nearby building. While the data that the Afghan forces provided was correct, the US Special Operations commander on the ground 鈥渓acked the authority to engage,鈥� since that information was not verified independently by US forces.聽
The aircraft instruments malfunctioned, too, and there was no video or e-mail available as the gunship arrived on target.
And so the aircrew concluded, based on the description of a Joint Tactical Air Controller (JTAC) on the ground that the Doctors Without Borders-run hospital was the building they should have been bombing instead, Campbell said. 鈥淭ragically, this misidentification occurred throughout the operation.鈥�
Doctors Without Borders had done its part to notify the US military of its location and coordinates, he acknowledged. They called, too, in the middle of the airstrike, which began at 2:08 a.m. At 2:20 a.m., a Special Operations Forces officer at Bagram Airfield received a call from Doctors Without Borders. It took until 2:37 for that information to be relayed to the AC-130 gunship crew and to, as Campbell put it, 鈥渞ealize the fatal mistake.鈥�
By that time, the strike was over.
The transparency of the report 鈥渋s very important, and [the US military] will make some substantial changes based on this,鈥� says retired Lt. Gen. David Barno, who commanded US forces in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005.
These will likely involve 鈥渟treamlining their communications鈥� and creating 鈥渟ome kind of hotline鈥� to get information to the decision makers more quickly.
鈥淭here were either bad communications from the command center and Kabul, or a layering inside the command center so that the information didn鈥檛 get out,鈥� he says.聽
In detailing some of the mistakes that led to the civilian deaths, the press conference offered a window into the high demands placed on the few remaining US troops in Afghanistan.聽
It is a picture of a war half-a-world away, the longest in US history, that few Americans are able to see. It was on Sept. 27 that the city of Kunduz was attacked by the Taliban. By the 28th , most local Afghan forces withdrew, 鈥渓eaving the Taliban in control of much of the city,鈥� Campbell said.聽
US Special Operations Forces were deployed 鈥渞apidly鈥� on Sept. 29, in order to defend the Kunduz airfield from a Taliban attack. They fought 鈥渢hroughout the night into the early morning,鈥� Campbell said, then moved from the airfield to the city to establish themselves in the provincial chief of police compound, to try and protect it.
During this time, the forces 鈥渞epelled heavy and sustained enemy attacks鈥� and 鈥渃onducted multiple attacks鈥� themselves. As a result, the US special operators 鈥渞emained at the compound longer than anticipated to help Afghan forces.鈥�
Just prior to the airstrike, Campbell noted, these US forces 鈥渉ad been engaged in heavy fighting for five consecutive days and nights.鈥澛�
As a result, Campbell said, 鈥渇atigue and a high operational tempo contributed to this tragedy.鈥�
