MSF said about 200 patients and staff were in the four-year-old hospital during the attack.
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“The Department of Defense believes it is important to address the consequences of the tragic incident at the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan”, Peter Cook, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement.
The Pentagon declined further comment on Thursday, citing ongoing investigations.
Obama ultimately apologized for the airstrike.
An Afghan National Army soldier stands guard at the gate of a Doctors without Borders hospital.
Meanwhile, the global Humanitarian Fact Finding Committee (IHFFC), an independent humanitarian commission created under the Geneva Conventions in 1991, is waiting for confirmation from the United States and Afghan governments that they will cooperate with an independent investigation. No surrounding buildings were hit, they say.
Typically, pilots flying air support missions would have maps showing protected sites such as hospitals and mosques.
The first journalist to enter a trauma centre in northern Afghanistan bombed by United States forces has defended the decision to publish images of the destruction. “That’s the unanswered question”.
“Particularly in the context of being a hospital, it was very shocking”, he said.
All parties to the conflict, including Washington and Kabul, were regularly provided with Global Positioning System coordinates of the MSF facilities, which include a hospital, guest-house, office and an outreach stabilization unit in Chardara to the north-west of Kunduz. Could the intelligence have somehow trickled over to whoever ordered the strike?
It would be significant if US intelligence had concluded that Pakistani spies were continuing to play an active role helping the Taliban. The medical relief organization is within its rights to seek that independent assessment, and the US government should cooperate.
There are few medical services available in Kunduz.
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Nicolai said, “There were only Afghan staff and nine worldwide staff, none of whom were from Pakistan, working in the hospital”. “The answer is, because in the USA military it is a separate offense – unlawful command influence – if higher-level political officials or military officials prejudge a case and start talking about it in public”.
