Genocide Watch exists to predict, prevent, stop, and punish genocide and other forms of mass murder. Our purpose is to build an international movement to prevent and stop genocide.
Staff Login
U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Apologizes for Bombing of Hospital
U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Apologizes for Bombing of Hospital
Mujib Mashal & Najim Rahimmarch
22 March 2016
Image: The remains of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, after it was hit by an American airstrike in October. CreditNajim Rahim/Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan — The new commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan issued an unreserved apology on Tuesday to the victims of the United States’ bombing of a hospital in the city of Kunduz last year that killed 42 people.
The commander, Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., and his wife, Norine MacDonald, a security analyst, traveled to Kunduz on Tuesday to meet with local officials and families of victims of the attack on the Doctors Without Borders hospital in October.
The couple’s trip was clearly geared toward adding a personal component to the apology. Its tone was a sharp contrast to that of General Nicholson’s predecessor, Gen. John F. Campbell, who had sent confusing messages after the attack and had stopped short of apologizing.
“As commander, I wanted to come to Kunduz personally and stand before the families and the people of Kunduz to deeply apologize for the events which destroyed the hospital and caused the deaths of staff, patients and family members,” said General Nicholson, who took charge of the forces this month. “I grieve with you for your loss and suffering, and humbly and respectfully ask for your forgiveness.”
But families of victims expressed anger at local Afghan officials who accepted the general’s apology on their behalf. The statement was unlikely to change the position of Doctors Without Borders, which has been demanding an independent inquiry led by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission and has called the airstrikes a war crime.
“They hit us six months ago and are apologizing now?” said Zabiullah Niazi, an operating room nurse at the hospital who lost an eye, a finger and the ability to use one hand. He also suffered other wounds. “The head of provincial council and other officials who said we accept the apology, they wouldn’t have said it if they had lost their own son and eaten ashes, as we did.”
Mr. Niazi said about 18 male family members of victims and two survivors were called to the governor’s office for a meeting with General Nicholson. But the general himself did not show up, instead making a speech in a packed auditorium where family members and survivors did not get a chance to speak.
Ms. MacDonald, however, stopped by “for one minute to say hello and express sorrow,” but she said she couldn’t answer questions on behalf of her husband, Mr. Niazi said. Ms. MacDonald spent more time — about five minutes, according to Mr. Niazi — with female survivors and family members in a separate room.
A family member of one of the hospital staff members killed in the American strike, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid reprisal by officials, expressed anger at the apology and flatly rejected it, saying it was inadequate to address the family’s loss.
After the Taliban briefly overran Kunduz city last fall, an American AC-130 gunship, operating on a request from Afghan forces, repeatedly bombed the Doctors Without Borders hospital. The aid group has said the attack, which killed 42 people and destroyed the hospital building, continued for more than an hour despite repeated calls to the military, which had been provided with the hospital’s coordinates on several occasions.
Afghan officials continue to claim that insurgents were taking shelter in the compound and firing on their forces, which Doctors Without Borders has denied.
American officials recently said the Pentagon had disciplined at least a dozen people for their role in the attack, including soldiers on the ground, personnel at the operations center overseeing the strike and airmen. But none were said to be facing criminal charges. The Pentagon is expected to release its inquiry into the attack in coming weeks.
ks.
