So, there's this big offensive going down in Afghanistan. And the New York Times reports this little problem:
An errant American rocket strike on Sunday hit a compound crowded with Afghan civilians in the last Taliban stronghold in Helmand Province, killing at least 10 people, including 5 children, military officials said.
Avoiding such civilian deaths, which came on the second day of a major allied offensive around Marja, has been a cornerstone of the war strategy by the top American commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal. He apologized to President Hamid Karzai, saying, “We deeply regret this tragic loss of life.”
The strike came after American Marines and Afghan soldiers had been taking intense small-arms fire from a mud-walled compound in the area, American officers said. The answering artillery barrage instead hit a building a few hundred yards way, striking with a roar and sending a huge cloud of dust and smoke into the air. As the wind pushed the plume away, a group of children rushed outside.
Oops.
Shit happens when you're waging war. Often to the innocents who just happen to be unfortunate enough to be hosting the war. The purpose and successful conclusion of which remain unclear.
When the current assault began, the Times had this:
Thousands of American, Afghan and British troops attacked the watery Marja early Saturday, moving by land and through the air to destroy the insurgency’s largest haven and begin a campaign to reassert the dominance of the Afghan government across a large arc of southern Afghanistan.
The question being- what Afghan government? The one that recently stole the Afghan election?
And then there's this:
The operation, dubbed Moshtarak, which means“together” in Dari, is the largest offensive military operation since the American-led coalition invaded the country in 2001. Its aim is to flush the Taliban out of an area — about 75 square miles — where insurgents have been staging attacks, building bombs and processing the opium that pays for their war.
Outside of Pakistan, Marja, a town of about 80,000 residents, stands as the Taliban’s largest sanctuary, until now a virtual no-go zone for American, British and Afghan troops. The Taliban have been firmly entrenched there for about three years.
Got that? Invading a town that's the largest Taliban haven outside of Pakistan, in support of a corrupt stolen Afghan "government." So, even if this attack is successful, that corrupt stolen government will be strengthened, and the main Taliban stronghold will remain. Across the border. In Pakistan.
And for this, innocent civilians die.
And this is supposed to make sense?