Opinions

14 years of war and lack of accountability

Doctors have tough jobs, but think about those in war zones risking their lives to help others at a fraction of what they can make elsewhere; these are the volunteers of Doctors without Borders.

Early Sunday morning, 22 people were killed in Kunduz, Afghanistan after U.S. airstrikes barraged a hospital for nearly an hour. Among the dead were 12 Doctors Without Borders staff and 10 patients. 37 other staff members and civilians were injured.

Little information is coming out about the incident even though many questions remain unanswered. On Tuesday morning, United States Commander General John Campbell and the NATO coalition responsible for the attack in Afghanistan appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee to provide some possible answers.

Constant shifts within Campbell’s statements in the immediate aftermath of the air strikes to his appearance before the committee simply demonstrates the failure of communication within the coalition.

Unfortunately, the general provided little-to-no information, but he did finally admit to the fact that the airstrike “was a U.S. decision made within the U.S. chain of command.”

After initially stating that the hospital air strikes had been collateral damage in attempts to support U.S. troops on the ground, Campbell updated that report later, blaming Afghan forces for having called in the airstrike, only to later admit that it was indeed a U.S. decision.

Now organizing a group of hastily assembled multinational forces sounds difficult, but the general’s statement reveals more importantly how the U.S. chain of command is having the same failures.

The airstrikes consistently hit the hospital in 15-minute intervals for nearly an hour and all attempts at communication by the hospital staff to reach Washington, the Afghan government or NATO collectively failed to stop the firing.

“Collateral damage,” as the military calls it, and civilian casualties are horrific consequences of war that can be difficult to avoid. But Doctors Without Borders President Joanne Liu’s detailed the organization’s process of informing all sides of the conflict of their locations, with GPS coordinates, clearly shows that this attack should never have happened in the first place.

The outrage against the U.S.-led coalition is justified considering the fact that hospitals are known areas of protection in war zones, according to International Law. Violation of such law is subject to accusations of war crimes and both Liu and the United Nations have condemned the act as such.

Putting blame on the Afghan forces or the Taliban for the attack is shameful. In the end, the U.S. leads the coalition of forces in Afghanistan. The U.S. owns and operates the AC-130 gunship responsible for the attack. The U.S., and only the U.S., has the authority to give the command to fire after following the proper rules of engagement.

The problem is that the rules of engagement and the chain of command within the military fail to prevent unnecessary civilian casualties.

It’s been 14 years since the U.S. began its military operation, “Enduring Freedom.” Unfortunately, freedom has utterly failed to endure in Afghanistan despite its status as the longest war in American history. Over the course of the war, 26,000 civilians have been killed, with over 100,000 reported injuries; rarely did any of the investigations result in any accountability by the U.S. military other than an official apology or acknowledgement of involvement.

Unless the military fixes systemic issues in training, communication and overall transparency, incidents like this will continue to happen and those behind the scenes will not be held responsible, while those brutally killed will fade into statistics, casualties of war and military ignorance.

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