President Obama personally apologized Wednesday in an Oval Office phone call to the head of Doctors Without Borders for the USA military bombing of a charity hospital in Afghanistan that killed at least 22 patients and medical personnel working for the global aid agency.
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“We implement the kinds of changes that make it less likely that those kinds of mistakes will occur in the future”.
Multiple waves It killed 12 MSF staff as well as 10 patients who had sought medical treatment after the Taliban overran Kunduz last weekend.
When the United States makes a mistake, it takes responsibility and apologizes when it is necessary, Obama’s spokesman said.
“After completing that call, the President telephoned Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to express his condolences for the innocent loss of life in that incident”, he said.
“However, we reiterate our ask that the USA government consent to an independent investigation led by the worldwide Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission to establish what happened in Kunduz, how it happened, and why it happened”.
US Defence Secretary Ash Carter, speaking to reporters in Rome on Wednesday, said the investigation would “hold accountable anyone responsible for conduct that was improper”. “I do believe we have to provide our senior leadership with options different from the current plan”, he said in response to a question about whether the drawdown should proceed as planned. But she noted there was no commitment yet on official cooperation with an independent investigation.
Twenty-two people were killed in the attack, and dozens wounded in the bombing.
“Today we say enough, even war has rules”, Liu said.
The Pentagon has said American forces were not under direct fire when local Afghan forces asked for air support just prior to the US bombardment of the hospital.
Campbell described the incident as a mistake, but he did not specify whether the American pilots had tried to hit another target and missed or whether they meant to strike the hospital building but did not know it was a medical facility.
Earnest said Obama told Liu that a USA investigation would “provide a transparent, thorough and objective accounting of the facts and circumstances of the incident”.
Liu said it violated the terms of the Geneva conventions and has demanded a non-prosecutorial inquiry by the global Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission.
Gen. John F. Campbell, the top US commander in Afghanistan, told a congressional panel on Tuesday that Afghan forces requested USA air power during fighting near the medical clinic.
The United States airstrikes and their civilian death toll appear to give the lie to the Obama administration’s claim that the 14-year war in Afghanistan is winding down. It said US forces are permitted to take action against individuals that “pose a direct threat” to USA and coalition forces.
Saturday wasn’t the first time Doctors Without Borders has complained about military action on the Kunduz hospital.
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And Nicholas Haysom, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, said hospitals must never be attacked.
