We are still killing innocent men, women and children in Afghanistan.
The "Death from Above" strategy of our limited resources is seeing to it.
From the BBC:Many dead in Afghan air strike
American officials in Afghanistan have confirmed that a number of civilians have been killed in an air strike.
Who will stop this? Let's hope that the Afghan government's request doesn't fall on deaf ears - or should I say the newly elected ears.
The Afghan government wants it to stop:
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly criticised the high level of civilian casualties caused by coalition bombings in his county and called on Barack Obama to stop them.
The article continues:
"Our demand is that there will be no civilian casualties in Afghanistan. We cannot win the fight against terrorism with air strikes," he said.
"This is my first demand of the new president of the United States - to put an end to civilian casualties."
An investigation is under way into what went wrong.
A local MP said women and children were among the dead.
He has been told by villagers that 38 people were killed and more than 40 taken to Kandahar hospital for treatment, although the exact number of casualties has yet to be established.
[emphasis mine]
Civilian casualties are on the rise in this country according to the UN, and while most of them appear to be due to Taliban strikes, Coalition forces are also to blame.
Fundamentally, by undermining the mission in Afghanistan and not eradicating the Taliban 7 years ago, the blame can be laid at the feat of our current administration. Though one must ask, is this even possible? Look what happened to the Soviet Army after a decade of full-scale occupation.
What will the Obama administration do? What can it do? I trust that Obama will surround himself with thinkers and leaders with the wisdom to find an end to this turmoil, though it isn't exclusively a US problem.
UPDATE: It turns out that a wedding party was the target of this bombing.
From the Globe and Mail: Air strikes kill dozens of wedding guests
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Dozens of Afghan civilians are dead and dozens more are wounded after a series of air strikes aimed at Taliban fighters fell short of their target and exploded in the middle of a wedding party in a mountainous region north of Kandahar city, tribal elders and wedding guests told The Globe and Mail on Tuesday
36 women were killed and "hundreds" of men.
The attack continued after the bombing:
The bombing wasn't the end of the ordeal, witnesses said. When the air strikes were over, they said, international troops arrived in three sand-coloured armoured vehicles.
Villagers reported they were intimidated and prevented from leaving to seek medical treatment while the soldiers took pictures.
[emphasis mine]
So the coalition is more interested in taking pictures than in helping those who they have wrongly injured.
THIS. HAS. GOT. TO. CHANGE.