NATO Says U.S. Airstrike in Kunduz Killed 30 Civilians - WSJ.com
By YOCHI J. DREAZEN
WASHINGTON -- NATO investigators believe that 30 civilians were killed in a
controversial U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan's Kunduz province, a preliminary finding that
could spark new pressure for disciplinary actions against the German and American
personnel involved in the attack.
A team of military officers led by Canadian Maj. Gen. C.S. Sullivan spent more than a
week probing the Sept. 4 bombing, which took place after a German commander in
Kunduz ordered an airstrike on two hijacked fuel trucks that he feared would be used in
a suicide attack against his troops.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization investigators believe roughly 100 people were killed in
the resulting strike, including approximately 70 militants, according to people familiar
with the matter. A separate Afghan government probe reached roughly the same
conclusions about the militant and civilian death tolls, these people said.
The NATO investigation is trying to determine the precise sequence of events that led
the local German commander, Col. Georg Klein, to order an airstrike rather than sending
ground forces, according to people familiar with its work. The full probe is expected to
be completed within the next two weeks, these people said.
Its findings will then be formally presented to the German and U.S. militaries, which will
decide whether to discipline or bring criminal charges against the personnel involved in
approving and carrying out the strike, these people said.
The investigation comes amid mounting tensions between Washington and Berlin about
the strike, which NATO acknowledged last week had "killed and injured" civilians as well
as insurgents.
The rift threatens to further erode European public support for the war effort, which is
already deeply unpopular in most NATO countries. Germany, France and the U.K.
recently called for an international conference to seek ways of transferring responsibility
for the country's security from NATO to the Afghan government.
Several military officers at the Pentagon and the U.S.-led NATO high command in Kabul
said in recent interviews that the Kunduz attack violated the rules put in place by the
top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, to limit the use of
bombs and other heavy weaponry in civilian areas.
Gen. McChrystal's written guidance ordered NATO commanders to use such weaponry
only in cases of imminent danger to their troops. That condition doesn't appear to have
been met in the Kunduz strike, which happened even though no German troops were
taking fire or facing immediate Taliban attack.
German officials have rejected foreign criticism. In an address to parliament last week,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered regret for any potential civilian fatalities
but warned against jumping to conclusions about German culpability.
Ipso Facto, fire him.
He's going to have to take one for Germany.