“At first there was confusion, and dust settling. As we were trying to work out what was happening, there was more bombing.”
-Lajos Zoltan Jecs, nurse with Medicins Sans Frontière
Terms To Know
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Airstrike: the bombing of a city by a military aircraft
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Insurgent: a person who engages in armed resistance to a government
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International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission: an organization, independent from any country or government, that investigates serious violations of international humanitarian law
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The Geneva Conventions: a set of international treaties and protocols regulating the conduct of armed conflict in order to protect people not taking part in hostilities
What’s Happening?
On Oct. 3, United States Military aircrafts flew into a restricted zone in Kunduz, Afghanistan, and bombed a civilian hospital. This hospital was run by the charity organization Medicins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders. The hospital had treated over 400 patients in that week alone, with 100-200 staff and patients left in the hospital at the time of the bombing. 12 staff members and 10 patients, including three children, were left deceased by the end of the airstrike. 37 people are seriously injured and an additional 33 are still missing.
Frantic calls were made to Washington D.C. approximately less than ten minutes into the bombing, but the destruction continued for over 45 minutes. Coordinates of the hospital were released to the U.S. military the Tuesday prior, as they are also routinely updated to ensure safety. The location of the hospital was in the military database of restricted sites for places like mosques, schools, and of course hospitals, where U.S. pilots are not allowed to strike – even if there are insurgents present.
“Six patients were burning in their beds. There are no words for how terrible it was.”
-A statement issued by Doctors Without Borders.
Who’s Saying What?
Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry has said that 10-15 Taliban members were hiding in the hospital, using it to attack outside American and Afghan soldiers, and that is why the order was given to drop an airstrike on the hospital. Meanwhile, the U.S. military stated that it carried an airstrike “in the vicinity” of the hospital, targeting Taliban fighters outside of the hospital, and mistakenly bombed the medical facility. Doctors Without Borders, however, refutes the claims that there were soldiers either in or outside the hospital, stating that they could not see or hear any fighting.
NATO, the U.S. Department of Defense, and Afghan government are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the airstrike, and promise complete transparency in the results. Joanne Liu, Doctors Without Borders’ international president, has called for an investigation by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commision (IHFFC) to ensure unbiased results. This program was launched in 1991 under the Geneva Conventions, and has never been needed in the 24 years since its establishment. As of now the United States has not consented to an investigation by the IHFFC, but the charity organization is still appealing.
White House Apologizes
Spokesman Josh Earnest giving his apology statement
“In this case, there was a mistake and it’s one that the U.S. owns up to” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. President Obama issued an apology, saying “on behalf of the American people, I extend my deepest condolences to the medical professionals and other civilians killed and injured in the tragic incident at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz.” Army Gen. John Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has apologized as well and has ordered American forces in Afghanistan to undergo extensive retraining on airstrikes and rules of engagement.
In addition to this apology, Obama has said that the Pentagon will make condolence payments to the families of those killed and injured in the attack. The Pentagon will also pay to repair the hospital, should MSF choose to continue their operations in Kunduz.
Question remains on whether or not MSF will choose to continue working in Kunduz, as Doctors Without Borders has now left the region. It was the only medical facility in the northeastern Afghanistan equipped for big war injuries, and now tens of thousands of people are left with a huge shortage of medicine and health care professionals.
Since the war began 14 years ago, at least 18,000 civilians have been killed in coalition raids, bombings, and militant attacks.