Afghan Human Rights Group; 78 People Killed by Americans
Earlier this week Afghan and U.S. forces killed an important Afghan militia leader. Friday, many of his supporters - either militiamen or civilians, or both - said their last goodbyes to him during a memorial ceremony. Before they knew what happened, U.S. forces attacked them, killing approximately 75 - 78 people.
An Afghan human rights group charges that of the 78 people killed, most of who (innocent) civilians. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the attack. The Interior Ministry said 76 people died, 50 of whom were children.
Interestingly enough, another government department the Ministry of Defense disagrees. It says 25 militiamen and only five civilians were killed.
The allies forces, led by the U.S., say five civilians died but, in order to smooth tensions, it has announced it will investigate the Afghan claims.
The problem with reports such as this one is that if they are correct, they do tremendous damage to the image of the U.S and if they are not correct they also hurt the U.S. image tremendously.
It is not the first time that President Karzai has spoken out against what he considers excessive use of force by America. One of the main reasons for his criticism is his need to disprove Afghan critics and show them that he is not a puppet of the U.S. He clearly feels the need to show he is no puppet of America, but a strong Afghan leader.
