First 12 civilian casualties for Operation Moshtarak
The Nato-led ISAF military force has admitted that at least 12 Afghan civilians have already been killed during Operation Moshtarak, their major military offensive in the south of Afghanistan.
The civilians victims died after a rocket hit their house today, the second day of Operation Moshtarak, which aims to take control of the town of Marjah and neighbouring areas in Helmand province from the Taliban.
“Two rockets from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System [HIMARS] launched at insurgents firing upon Afghan and Isaf forces impacted approximately 300 metres off their intended target, killing 12 civilians in Nad Ali district,” the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said in a statement.
The statement said that the intended target of the rocket had been a Taliban compound from which fighters had shot and injured one Nato and one Afghan soldier.
The Nato-led force said that General Stanley McChrystal, the US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, had apologised to Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, over the deaths.
Afghan President Karzai had already ordered an investigation into the incident near Marjah, which followed his warning to foreign forces to take all measures to protect civilians.
In an Isaf statement General McChrystal stated: “The current operation in central Helmand is aimed at restoring security and stability to this vital area of Afghanistan”,”It’s regrettable that in the course of our joint efforts, innocent lives were lost”,”We extend our heartfelt sympathies and will ensure we do all we can to avoid future incidents,” he said.
Meanwhile British Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth today admitted that it might take months to consider Operation Moshtarak against the Taliban a complete success.
Ainsworth told the BBC that “the aim of coalition forces is to enforce order and win hearts and minds of the Afghan people”, it is hard to see how that can be achieved by killing civilians
War criminal, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had earlier said that the aim of the mission Operation Moshtarak, was to break, divide and split the Taliban, so far its only achievement has been to massacre the civilian population, in whose interests they claim to be acting.
Operation Moshtarak - which means “together” in the local Dari language claims to seek to engage ‘moderate’ Taliban elements who might be persuaded by financial incentives to leave the Taliban and return to civilian life, again it is hard to see how members of the Taliban forces can be engaged in dialogue while they are under the conditions of an intensive military offensive.
War mongering British Foreign Secretary David Miliband claims that this will be a “decisive year” for the Afghanistan campaign and that it is “too premature” to talk about the withdrawal of British troops.