One cannot say whether the US is winning the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan but it seems to be loosing the support of the Afghan people. In an air strike on a residential area in Zarghun Shah district in Paktika province seven children were killed .
US forces claimed many Al Qaeda fighters were killed and two of them were captured in the mission. A classic case of throwing away the baby with the bathwater. There was also a madarsa and a mosque in the area.
The US army says the terrorists were using the children as human shields. Whether this is true or not the military should have thought twice before calling in air support knowing that this was a civilian area. This is not the first time such a thing has happened. 270 Afghan people have died in this year till now. US army calls it “collateral damage.”
In another notorious incident in March this year near Jalalabad US marines riding in humvees went berserk after being attacked by a suicide bomber and in the ensuing panicky firing, 19 civilians were killed and 50 others injured. It conjures up distressing images of similar insanity witnessed in the Vietnam war.
After the incident enraged citizens had taken to the streets abusing the US and President Hamid Karzai. The Afghan leader has been repeatedly telling the US-Nato forces to be careful inimise civilian deaths , with little effect it seems. The US army just says “sorry” after every goof-up, leaving Karzai holding the bag.
The main villain is the much maligned air attacks . Ordinary people who have died from it numbered a few in the first half of 2006. It rose to about 40 killed every month in the second half of the year and has shot up to 50 per month this year. US airplane have dropped 237 bombs till mid-May this year. The figure was 229 for the whole of 2006. The US military has come up with a new manual of counterinsurgency to minimize civilian deaths , but it seems that it has remained merely on paper.
Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief says that the US is loosing the goodwill of the Afghan people because of the use of excessive force and mounting civilian casualties.
