Afghan lawmaker decries US firing on clinic
Saturday, 29 August 2009
KABUL, Aug 28 (AP): The US military's decision to use a helicopter gunship to fire on a medical clinic where an injured Taliban commander had bunkered was a violation of Islamic and international law, a parliamentarian representing the region said Friday.
The US military has said its troops only opened fire on the clinic after they were fired on and had ensured there were no civilians inside. The military also said both the provincial governor and the clinic's doctor gave them permission to open fire. After the fighting, Afghan and US forces met with villagers and discussed rebuilding the clinic, a US summary of the meeting said.
Wednesday's battle started after a wounded Taliban commander sought treatment at a clinic in the Sar Hawza district of eastern Paktika province. Afghan forces tipped off to his presence went to the centre and got in a five-hour firefight with militants, the governor's office has said. US forces later provided backup, including the helicopter.
A lawmaker representing Paktika said other options should have been more seriously considered.
"There must have been another way or tactic to use to get to him without destroying the hospital," said Khalid Faroqi, who is also from Sar Hawza district. The targeted insurgent leader was injured in the attack.
"It is an offense to shoot on a hospital like that," he said. "The international forces should have higher standards than the insurgents."
Afghanistan's health minister, however, defended the troops' actions, saying the insurgents violated the sanctity of the clinic by bringing their guns inside. He said they hid the weapons under their clothes, and that they were the first to fire. The Taliban turned the clinic into a bunker, he said, and the US forces were needed to rout them out.
"The coalition forces were obliged because the police were under fire. If they hadn't come all those police would have died," said Health Minister Mohammad Amin Fatemi. He said the clinic was almost completely destroyed, but said the military is making adequate reparations by agreeing to build a 40-bed clinic, double the size of the previous facility, which was often overcrowded.
The US military has said its troops only opened fire on the clinic after they were fired on and had ensured there were no civilians inside. The military also said both the provincial governor and the clinic's doctor gave them permission to open fire. After the fighting, Afghan and US forces met with villagers and discussed rebuilding the clinic, a US summary of the meeting said.
Wednesday's battle started after a wounded Taliban commander sought treatment at a clinic in the Sar Hawza district of eastern Paktika province. Afghan forces tipped off to his presence went to the centre and got in a five-hour firefight with militants, the governor's office has said. US forces later provided backup, including the helicopter.
A lawmaker representing Paktika said other options should have been more seriously considered.
"There must have been another way or tactic to use to get to him without destroying the hospital," said Khalid Faroqi, who is also from Sar Hawza district. The targeted insurgent leader was injured in the attack.
"It is an offense to shoot on a hospital like that," he said. "The international forces should have higher standards than the insurgents."
Afghanistan's health minister, however, defended the troops' actions, saying the insurgents violated the sanctity of the clinic by bringing their guns inside. He said they hid the weapons under their clothes, and that they were the first to fire. The Taliban turned the clinic into a bunker, he said, and the US forces were needed to rout them out.
"The coalition forces were obliged because the police were under fire. If they hadn't come all those police would have died," said Health Minister Mohammad Amin Fatemi. He said the clinic was almost completely destroyed, but said the military is making adequate reparations by agreeing to build a 40-bed clinic, double the size of the previous facility, which was often overcrowded.