U.S. Tricked into Killing Civilians?

Survivors of the incident believe the Americans were misused to intervene in a local feud.

The walls of the houses are shot full of holes, if they’re still standing at all. Deep bomb craters gape in the earth and bloody scraps of clothing can be seen among the rubble.

The village of Asisabad in western Afghanistan was the target of a massive American air attack on August 22nd. The little hamlet in Herat province was attacked by several waves of AC-130 gun ships just as a crowd had assembled for a memorial ceremony. The firepower of an AC-130 “Spooky” consists of a five-barreled 25mm Gatling gun, a 40mm automatic cannon and an automatic 105mm howitzer, almost the same firepower as an artillery battalion.

According to reports by survivors and Afghan officials, at least 90 civilians, among them 60 children and 15 women, died in the attack, figures later confirmed by a United Nations investigation. The U.S. government hastened to explain that the attack was directed against Taliban leader Mullah Siddiq and that there had been no civilian casualties. A second version mentioned five killed, a third claimed seven – almost exclusively Taliban deaths. A New York Times reporter alone, however, claimed to have seen as many as 40 bodies laid out in a mosque, among them eleven children. Many bodies, however, had already been taken to other villages.

Asisabad threatens to become a political “worst case scenario” for the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. Quite possibly, the Americans had been misused in a local feud. President Hamid Karzai visited Asisabad, branded the attack unjustifiable, called his cabinet into session and declared his intention to re-negotiate conditions for the stationing of foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Finally, the highest American military authority in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, said he was prepared to investigate the Asisabad case with a team of U.S. Army personnel led by a General. President George W. Bush expressed his regrets to Karzai by telephone.

The New York Times reported the case of police officer Abdul Hakim. He lost all four of his children and his wife was crippled in the attack. She related that after the air attack, an Afghan informant in the company of advancing U.S. Special Forces shot and killed her brother, her father and an uncle who were all trying to help the wounded. They belonged to the Khan family, one of the most prominent in Asisabad. The memorial service had been for her brother Taimoor Shah who had been murdered as the result of a business dispute. Another brother said a business rival had informed American forces that a major Taliban meeting would take place in Asisabad on the 22nd of August. But no Taliban had been present at the time of the attack. President Karzai swore that those who lied to the U.S. forces would be found out and punished.