
Foreign Policy, in an exclusive, reports the Pentagon is preparing to punish specific members of the U.S. special operations forces and others involved in the airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, that left 42 civilians dead.
In addition to the 42 innocents killed, including 14 of the aid group’s staffers, several dozen others were wounded. The organization — also known as MSF, after its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières – has called the attack a “war crime.”
Tragically, there are also indications that the air strike may have been other than fully accidental.
General John Campbell, who commands U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has forwarded an exhaustive 3,000-page investigation into the incident to the U.S. Central Command, along with his recommendations for disciplinary action against the troops involved in the airstrike. Officials there and at the U.S. Special Operations Command are now weighing who to punish and how.
One congressional staffer told Foreign Policy that the U.S. Army Green Beret team on the ground on the night of the attack has come under particular scrutiny from investigators for their role in calling in the strike by an AC-130 gunship, which lasted about 30 minutes.
No word on whether or not the investigative report will ever be released.
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