Tribesmen sift through the rubble of a residential structure after an air strike by U.S. forces in the Sheikh Baba area of Mohamand region at the Pakistan-Afghan border in June. (Mohammad Shahkar/Reuters)
From the New York Times:
Dawn was breaking over Afghanistan one day this month as Air Force surveillance planes locked in on a top-ranking insurgent commander as he traveled in secret around Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban.
But as attack aircraft were summoned overhead to strike, according to a recounting of the mission by Air Force commanders, the Taliban leader entered a building. Intelligence specialists scrambled to determine whether civilians were inside. Weapons experts calculated what bomb could destroy the structure with the least damage.
It had taken the American military many days to identify, track and target the senior Taliban officer. But the risk of civilian deaths was deemed too high. Air Force commanders, working with military lawyers, aborted the mission. The Taliban leader escaped.
Read more ....
My Comment: Commanders and policy makers are probably going to change the rules of engagement soon. This article was leaked because of frustration from ground commanders and intelligence officers. I am sure that a debate is going on now, and that as the fighting intensifies in Afghanistan the bombing will increase.
In Iraq there were numerous incidences where key Bathist or Al Qaeda members were targeted in civilian areas, but they were still bombed. The value of the target was deemed too high to be permitted to escape. This will also probably be the case for Afghanistan. Civilians will need to know that if there is a Taliban officer sipping tea and eating supper in his home, there will always be a chance that a Predator flying in the sky will not know that civilians are there.
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