Some of those involved in the attacks failed to follow the rules of engagement, said Brigadier General Wilson Shoffner at the same press conference.
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The US investigation into a deadly air strike on a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in Afghanistan showed a “frightening catalogue of errors” by American troops, the charity said Wednesday.
“The destruction of a protected facility without verifying the target – in this case a functioning hospital full of medical staff and patients – can not only be dismissed as individual human error or breaches of the USA rules of engagement”, it added.
Gen. John F. Campbell stated the October three strike on a Doctors With out Borders hospital, which killed 30 civilians & left 37 others wounded, was “tragic, yet avoidable”.
A technical error in the aircraft’s mapping system initially led American forces to target the wrong building, the investigation said, yet the attack was carried out despite no hostile enemy activity being detected at the MSF building.
“The investigating officer found that the aircrew visually located the closest large building near the open field, which we now know was the MSF trauma centre”, Campbell said.
The incident was one of the worst incidents of civilian casualties during the 14 years the USA has been involved in military actions in Afghanistan that stemmed originally from the 2001 al-Qaida terrorist attacks on the United States that killed almost 3,000 people.
The hospital’s location was known to the US military, and officials from MSF (also known as Doctors Without Borders) repeatedly phoned USA and Afghan military officials during the attack, trying desperately to stop the heavy fire.
Shortly after the incident, the MSF issued a blistering statement, calling the us airstrike “a war crime”. The AC-130 gunship was sent out following a request from USA special forces and their Afghan allies, fighting the Taliban who had taken control of Kunduz several days prior.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the conclusions reached by the USA were in line with the findings in a separate North Atlantic Treaty Organisation probe.
About 30 people died in the airstrike.
Campbell said several people had been removed from duty over the incident as they await potential criminal prosecution or administrative discipline, although he declined to say who and how many.
The AC-130 gunship crew took off early, he said, and did not have time for a normal mission brief or to be given crucial material “including the no-strike designations”.
And they called, once again, for an independent investigation, but no word on that yet from any worldwide group. When it was targeted in the mistaken belief it was a Taliban stronghold, MSF immediately contacted the U.S. forces to alert them, but the strike was not called off for another 17 minutes.
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The US airstrikes in Kunduz were prompted by the Taliban’s siege of the key northern city on September 28, which represented the group’s biggest victory since its removal from power in a US-led invasion in 2001.
