"There are no Taleban here. We all are nomads living in tents."

[Note: This is an update on an older story.  I did a search, but only found one diary on the subject.  If this is inappropriate, I'll remove it.]

After killing as many as 85 civilians in attacks on the Taliban in Afghanistan's Kandahar province last Tuesday, NATO has issued a lackluster apology today, saying in part:

"Sadly, in asymmetric warfare, when you're battling an insurgency, typically the insurgents do not play by the same rules that we would like to play by," [U.S. Gen. James L.] Jones said at a news conference at Bagram, the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan.

More beneath the fold.

General Jones also accused the Taliban of using civilians as human shields, and said that this made it hard to tell the insurgants apart during the heat of battle.

Interviews with locals, however, tell a different story.  From the BBC:

One local man who did not want to reveal his name said 20 members of his family had been killed and 10 injured.

He said that a nomad camp with no connection to the Taleban had been attacked:

"There are no Taleban here. We live outside the village in an open area in tents.

"Anyone can come here to see our homes and area. There are no Taleban here. We all are nomads living in tents.

"Each time they say that it was a mistake. They have destroyed us all in such mistakes. For God's sake, come and see our situation."

Other locals report similar stories.  From Zaman:

"Everyone is very angry at the government and the coalition. There was no Taliban," villager Abdul Aye said in tears at the mass funeral in Kandahar city. He said 22 members of his family were killed.

Taj Mohammad, another villager, said there were no militants and innocent people were killed. At the funeral, Mohammad said 10 of his relatives had been killed.

There may have been no insurgants prior to the attacks, but it is hard to believe that the survivors of Tuesday's attacks will be NATO supporters.  Sam Zarafi, from Human Rights Watch, summarized the situation best:

"Many Afghans looked forward to Nato's deployment because they thought the force would protect Afghan civilians and help with reconstruction.

"But Nato won't win the trust of Afghans by showing disregard for civilian lives and property."

•  Tip jar. (n/t)

  by lemming22 on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 09:45:49 PM PDT

•  84 civilians and mysterious insurgents

  when is this "asymetrical warfare" bullshit excuse for homocide gonna be buried? it's stinkin up america.

  <rhetorical question>

  by MarketTrustee on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 09:59:01 PM PDT

  •  Precisely.

    If you read the news articles, the numbers are trully disgusting -- Alajeera reports the 85 civilian death toll; the original NATO report didn't disagree with them, but insisted that only about 12 of them were civilians and the other 70 were insurgants.

    by lemming22 on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 10:06:07 PM PDT

    •  Body count nonsense

      If war were a game you won on points the south would have won the Civil War.

      by Danjuma on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 10:58:28 PM PDT

  •  Yes, it's stinkin' up America

    and has been for too long and in too many places.

    Thanks for this diary. Finally some people are beginning to take notice.

    by truong son traveler on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 11:12:20 PM PDT

•  The hatred of us

  is growing daily, and this will be Bushs true legacy to us. He won't need to worry about his place in history. It has taken appox 30 yrs to finally bring Pinochet to justice, and hundreds of thousands will be hunting down Bush as they have Pinochet. He may walk away for 5 or even 10 yrs, but sooner or later some World court of War Crimes will prevail.

  by OneCrankyDom on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 10:06:39 PM PDT

•  we are all nomads living

  as best we can, in tents and tenaments and little apartments or houses. we are all nomads, living here but for a short time --

  home is a concept the warring classes canNOT understand. please, take a moment to be thankful for what we still might have and send blessings to all those made homeless by the cruel madness raging through the world.

  by old wobbly on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 10:33:07 PM PDT

  •  have you seen

    a truly sad, provocative documentary called Crazy? the director is german or dutch; i forget because it's subtitled. it profiles dutch NATO vets of bosnia/herzegovia, noncom and com, male and female, fraternizers and career achievers and the music that each associates with their in-country deployment. apparent "PSTD" survivors, every one.

    americans have no monopoly on manifest destiny and its defects -- pushing and shoving people to do, to fulfill duties and obligations, they're essentially ill-equipped to negotiate. war is inhumane. no one can stand it.

    by MarketTrustee on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 10:13:33 PM PDT

•  It might help

  if we sent troops who knew the language and cultural values of the people they are working among. It wouldn't solve the problems, of course, but it wouldn't hurt. I can't think of any insurgency that's been defeated from the air, either.

  by Danjuma on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 10:57:01 PM PDT