President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015. Obama apologized to Doctors Without Borders president for attack on Afghan medical clinic. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
US President Barack Obama on Wednesday apologized to Doctors Without Borders president for the attack on an Afghan medical clinic in Kunduz, Afghanistan, on Saturday that killed 22 civilians.
Commander of US forces in Afghanistan John Campbell acknowledged on Tuesday a US airstrike “mistakenly” struck a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, on Saturday that killed 22 civilians.
The Doctors Without Borders hospital is seen in flames, after an explosion in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015. Doctors Without Borders announced that the death toll from the bombing of the group’s Kunduz hospital compound has risen to at least 16, including 3 children and that tens are missing after the explosions that may have been caused by a U.S. airstrike. In a statement, the international charity said the “sustained bombing” took place at 2:10 a.m. (21:40 GMT). Afghan forces backed by U.S. airstrikes have been fighting to dislodge Taliban insurgents who overran Kunduz on Monday. (Médecins Sans Frontières via AP)
“A hospital was mistakenly struck. We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility,” said Campbell at a congressional hearing here amid protests from Doctors Without Borders, an aid agency which runs the hospital hit by the US airstrike.
According to Xinhua, Campbell fell short of acknowledging the US responsibility on Monday during a Pentagon briefing by merely indicating that “several civilians were accidentally struck”.
Shortly after his remarks on Monday, the aid agency called for an independent investigation into the incident despite pledges from the White House and the Pentagon to conduct transparent investigations.
“Their (US) description of the attack keeps changing – from collateral damage, to a tragic incident, to now attempting to pass responsibility to the Afghanistan government,” said General Director Christopher Stokes of the aid agency in a statement issued on Monday. “With such constant discrepancies in the US and Afghan accounts of what happened, the need for a full transparent independent investigation is ever more critical.”
Meanwhile, Campbell said on Tuesday that the decision to provide aerial support came after requests from Afghan forces engaged in a conflict with Taliban militants in Kunduz, Afghanistan, insisting the decision to provide the air support was a US decision made within the US chain of command.