U.S. Offers Aid to Afghan Village

July 7, 2002

KAKARAK, Afghanistan  — An American airstrike killed Afghan civilians there, but now the U.S. will try to make it up by doing what it can to encourage local development, the commander of U.S. forces said Sunday.


It's the U.S.'s attempt to rectify the latest in a series of "friendly fire'' mishaps that could alienate our Afghan allies and undermine the war on terror. This would include stationing American troops as a reassuring presence for the locals.

"They asked us if we would put some (U.S. soldiers) here that would stay here, and we're thinking that that's probably in our best interests,'' Lt. Gen. Dan K. McNeill said. "This is an area in which we've worked often, so we propose to put some U.S. forces here and then we will probably bring in teams that can help with the liaison to humanitarian assistance.''

According to the Afghans, 48 villagers were killed in the aerial raid last Monday, including 25 members of an extended family attending a wedding. Another 117 people were reportedly wounded in the central Uruzgan province.

McNeill on Saturday said that there had been civilian casualties, and a formal probe would be set up, but he did not comment on the number of dead or wounded.

On Sunday, McNeill made a visit to Kakarak less than a week after the attacks in a move clearly designed to patch up relations rather than get to the bottom of the Monday raid. No mention was made of the airstrike.

Instead, the crewcut general sat cross-legged on the floor of a mud compound, sharing orange sodas with tribal elders and the Uruzgan governor. The group discussed ways in which the U.S. forces could provide humanitarian assistance while at the same time fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

McNeill said U.S. forces could be stationed in the district so that international aid workers would feel safe enough to come and help the villagers rebuild their lives after two decades of war. 

"Our hospitals are not in good shape,'' elder Abdul Rahim said. `"Our schools are not in good shape. Everything is destroyed. Twenty-three years of war have destroyed everything here.''

The mud compound where the general met the elders was located only a few yards from buildings damaged in the raid. U.S. officials said an AC-130 gunship attacked after four anti-aircraft guns were seen firing at U.S. planes, including from the compound where the wedding party was hit.

The Afghans denied targeting U.S. planes, and American investigators found no trace of any anti-aircraft guns in the compound where the partygoers died. McNeill ordered a more thorough investigation to determine what happened.

After the meeting, McNeill told The Associated Press that some people were angry with the Americans for the attack. However, he said regional officials recognized that the United States did not intend to kill civilians.

Two days ago, Uruzgan Gov. Jan Mohammed Khan, who attended the Sunday gathering, warned that Afghans were ready to launch a jihad, or holy war, against the Americans unless attacks on civilians stopped.

On Sunday, however, Khan said he would be "very happy'' to see American troops stationed in the district.

``You are welcome here always. Now, today and in the future,'' Rahim added.

McNeill asked Khan if he would help find people to join the new Afghan national army, which U.S. forces are helping to train to try to keep Afghanistan secure. ``We will find people, young people,'' Khan said.

U.S. special forces troops have been hunting in remote areas of Afghanistan for Al Qaeda and Taliban holdouts. However, most of the 7,000-strong U.S. forces in Afghanistan are headquartered at a Bagram air base north of Kabul and at a smaller installation outside of the southern city of Kandahar.

Military spokesman Col. Roger King said U.S. troops from Kandahar were already in the Uruzgan area, studying the feasibility of deploying troops there.

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