{"id":53566,"date":"2019-10-06T20:30:10","date_gmt":"2019-10-06T20:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/10\/06\/anger-grows-at-civilian-deaths-by-us-afghan-forces\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:22:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:22:31","slug":"anger-grows-at-civilian-deaths-by-us-afghan-forces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/10\/06\/anger-grows-at-civilian-deaths-by-us-afghan-forces\/","title":{"rendered":"Anger grows at civilian deaths by US, Afghan forces"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">JALALABAD, Afghanistan \u2014 The workers were sleeping on the mountainside where they had spent a long day harvesting pine nuts in eastern Afghanistan. Some were in tents, others lay outside under the stars, when the U.S. airstrike tore into them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Only hours before the Sept. 19 strike, the businessman who hired them had heard there was a drone over the mountain and called Afghanistan\u2019s intelligence agency to remind an official his workers were there \u2014 as he\u2019d notified the agency days earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe laughed and said, \u2018Don\u2019t worry they are not going to bomb you,\u2019\u201d the businessman, Aziz Rahman, recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Twenty workers were killed in the strike, including seven members of one family. A relative, Mohammed Hasan, angrily described body parts they found scattered on the ground, gesturing at his arm, his leg, his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is not their (Americans&#8217;) first mistake,\u201d said Hasan. \u201cThey say \u2018sorry\u2019. What are we supposed to do with \u2018sorry?\u2019 &#8230; People now are angry. They are so angry with the foreigners, with this government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/07\/30\/more-civilians-have-died-by-afghan-forces-allies-than-by-militants-in-afghanistan-in-the-first-half-of-2019-un-says\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"190\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19209551650289.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">More civilians have died by Afghan forces, allies than by militants in Afghanistan in the first half of 2019, UN says<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">More civilians were killed by Afghan and international coalition forces in Afghanistan in the first half of this year than by the Taliban and other militants, the U.N. mission said in a report released Tuesday.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Increasing civilian deaths in stepped-up U.S. airstrikes and operations by Afghan forces highlight the conundrum the U.S. military and its Afghan allies face, 18 years into the war: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/09\/23\/at-least-40-civilians-killed-in-anti-taliban-raids-afghan-officials-say\/\" target=_blank>How to hunt down their Islamic State group and Taliban enemies<\/a>, while keeping civilians safe and on their side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Complaints have also grown over abuses and killings by a CIA-trained Afghan special intelligence force known as Unit 02. In the same province, Nangarhar, members of the unit killed four brothers during a raid on their home. The brothers\u2019 hands were bound and they were shot in the head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former President Hamid Karzai, in a recent interview with The Associated Press, said he didn\u2019t want the U.S. troops for \u201cone more minute\u201d if deaths of civilians continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some 16,000 civilians have been killed since 2009 in the war, according to the U.N. Overall, civilian deaths are down so far this year, on track to the lowest number since 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But civilian deaths caused by U.S. and Afghan government forces are rising, surpassing for the first time those caused by the Taliban and other insurgents, according to a U.N. report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It found that U.S. and Afghan forces killed 717 civilians and injured 680 in the first six months of the year, up 31 percent from the same period in 2018. The Taliban and IS killed 531 and wounded 1,437, down 43 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/02\/24\/2018-was-the-deadliest-year-for-afghan-civilians-since-the-un-started-keeping-track\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19055257462281.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">2018 was the deadliest year for Afghan civilians since the UN started keeping track<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">More civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year than in any of the previous nine years of the increasingly bloody conflict, according to a U.N. report released Sunday, which blamed the spike in deaths on increased suicide bombings by the Islamic State group and stepped up aerial attacks by U.S.-led coalition forces.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center, said that is because U.S. President Donald Trump has sought to ramp up pressure on the battlefield amid negotiations with the Taliban and has loosened rules of engagement for U.S. forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn effect, the Trump administration has given its blessing to U.S. forces to use a more gloves-off approach on the battlefield that raises the risk of civilian casualties,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In early September when Trump declared as<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/09\/09\/us-troop-reduction-in-afghanistan-unclear-as-trump-says-peace-talks-with-taliban-are-now-dead\/\" target=\"_blank\"> \u201cdead\u201d a deal with the Taliban<\/a> that had seemed imminent, he boasted the U.S. had \u201cbeen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/09\/11\/at-pentagon-911-ceremony-trump-says-hes-hitting-the-taliban-harder-than-ever-before\/\" target=\"_blank\">hitting our enemy harder<\/a> than at any time in the last 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this week Defense Secretary Mark Esper said: \u201cWe did step up our attacks on the Taliban since the talks broke down. . . we did pick up the pace considerably.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the U.S. Air Forces Central Command, the U.S. conducted more bombings and drone strikes in Afghanistan in August than in any previous month this year \u2014 783, compared to 613 in July and 441 in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dropping more bombs doesn\u2019t appear to be working. The Taliban are stronger than they have been since their ouster in 2001, and IS is expanding its footprint, moving into the mountains of the northeast, according to a U.S. Department of Defense intelligence agent. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an interview with The Associated Press, Afghan Defense Minister Asadullah Khaled disputed the U.N. report, saying \u201cwe do not have a lot of civilian casualties.\u201d He accused the Taliban and their sympathizers of inflating numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI cannot say there are no civilian casualties from the Afghan side but there is a big difference. Taliban is killing people in the mosque, in the school, in the street, and we are trying our best,\u201d to avoid civilian casualties, said Khaled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Khaled seemed to put some blame for the deaths in the Sept. 19 strike on the farmers. He said they were working on a mountain where IS is known to have bases, without informing the authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Rahman did inform authorities all the way to the provincial governor\u2019s office, according to documents dated Sept. 2 and seen by the AP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When he heard of the drone over the site, Rahman called the local office of Afghanistan\u2019s intelligence agency, known as the National Defense Secretariat, to remind them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still the strike came.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2019\/02\/11\/pentagon-review-calls-for-changes-to-how-us-investigates-reports-civilian-war-casualties\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18104504094151.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Pentagon review calls for changes to how US investigates, reports civilian war casualties<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The study calls for greater collaboration between the U.S. military and humanitarian groups, the declassification of investigations when appropriate, the investment in tools to assist ground force commanders in developing greater situational awareness, and the standardization of how U.S. combatant commands should address wrongdoing.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Initially, the U.S. military announced it had killed 16 Islamic State group fighters in a strike in that area that date. As angry villagers brought bodies of the dead to the provincial capital of Jalalabad, the U.S. military backed off that and said the incident was being investigated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than three weeks after the incident, the U.S military said the investigation was ongoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gen. Scott Miller, chief of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, said the best way to decrease civilian casualties is for both sides to reduce violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat said, my commitment to the Afghan people is we will be as precise as possible and support your security forces and when something goes wrong &#8230; we will quickly own it and look to provide the appropriate compensation for those mistakes,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking at the Nangarhar provincial capital of Jalalabad, Rahman showed his notebook where he meticulously wrote down the names of his dead workers in a notebook \u2014 20 men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jabeen was the only wage earner for his household \u2014 a wife, four children and his elderly father. He made 400 Afghanis ($5) a day harvesting pine nuts. Many Afghans use only one name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wahidullah had just married. He hadn\u2019t had a chance to start a family. He and his young wife lived with his father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abdullah was the father of two children, the eldest a 5-year-old daughter. His elderly mother lived with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ibrahim left behind a wife and three children, now being watched over by his father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Americans are attacking our ordinary people,\u201d said Rahman. \u201cThey are attacking our weddings. They are attacking our funerals &#8230; How is it they can\u2019t see who they are killing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19276343904867.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Mohammad Hasan\" class=\"wp-image-92058\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19276343904867.jpg.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19276343904867.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19276343904867.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19276343904867.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">In this Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019, photo, Mohammad Hasan, who lost seven members of his family, speaks during an interview to the Associated Press in Jalalabad city east of Kabul, Afghanistan. (Rahmat Gul\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Sept. 23, U.S air support of an Afghan operation against Taliban and al-Qaida in southern Helmand province\u2019s Musa Qala district killed at least 40 people attending a wedding. Most of the dead were women and children, according to Abdul Majed Akhund, deputy provincial councilman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An airstrike by U.S.-led forces a week ago in a Taliban-controlled district in central Ghazni province killed at least five civilians, local villagers said. Angry villagers carried the bodies to the provincial capital shouting, \u201cDeath to Ashraf Ghani,\u201d referring to the Afghan president, and \u201cDeath to America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s not just the U.S. air raids that are infuriating Afghans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Ghani fired his intelligence chief Masoom Stanikzai last month after complaints from Afghans and the United Nations about widespread abuses by the CIA-trained Unit 02. As early as last year, the U.N. asked the government to implement more oversight over the unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The firing came after members of the unit raided a home in Jalalabad, only meters (yards) from the Justice Ministry, and killed four brothers. Family members showed the AP photos of the bodies, bound and shot in the head. One of the brothers was an assistant to a close ally of Ghani. Their uncle, Ibrahim Malikzada, said the Unit\u2019s soldiers also took cash and jewelry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Unit reported that the dead were insurgents, a claim denied by the family. Eight others were arrested in the raid and later released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kugelman of the Wilson Center warned, \u201cThese increasing civilian deaths threaten to turn the tide of Afghan public opinion against the United States at a moment when there is already a risk of U.S. forces wearing out their welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Increasing civilian deaths in stepped-up U.S. airstrikes and operations by Afghan forces highlight the conundrum the U.S. military and its Afghan allies face, 18 years into the war: How to hunt down their Islamic State group and Taliban enemies, while keeping civilians safe and on their side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":92055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,12,26,62],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2179],"class_list":["post-53566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"4J4VP6TP3RC25FIAGHFXV34LRA","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2019\/10\/06\/anger-grows-at-civilian-deaths-by-us-afghan-forces\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Anger grows at civilian deaths by US, Afghan forces - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Increasing civilian deaths in stepped-up U.S. airstrikes and operations by Afghan forces highlight the conundrum the U.S. military and its Afghan allies face, 18 years into the war: How to hunt down their Islamic State group and Taliban enemies, while keeping civilians safe and on their side.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/10\/06\/anger-grows-at-civilian-deaths-by-us-afghan-forces\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kathy Gannon, The Associated Press\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/navytimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/06\\\/anger-grows-at-civilian-deaths-by-us-afghan-forces\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/navytimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/06\\\/anger-grows-at-civilian-deaths-by-us-afghan-forces\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": 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