Airstrike on hospital reveals dangers aid workers face in war-torn Afghanistan

By any measure, the staff of Doctors Without Borders are true angels of mercy. For more than 40 years, doctors, nurses and others involved in the aid organization known internationally by its French name, Medecins Sans Frontieres, have traveled the globe providing care to victims of wars, killer diseases and natural disasters. More often than not, they make the difference between life and death for many in harm’s way.

Thus, when Doctors Without Borders announces that it is pulling out of a war-torn area, the reason demands to be taken seriously. These aren’t people who run in the face of danger.

On Sunday, the aid group withdrew from the city of Kunduz, in northern Afghanistan, after an American airstrike on its hospital killed 22 people, including 12 staff members. The intensive- care unit was destroyed.

After first saying that the airstrike was launched because U.S. forces were threatened, the top commander of the American and coalition forces in Afghanistan said Monday the strike had been launched after Afghan forces reported being under Taliban fire and requested the airstrike.

That request justifies the demand by Doctors Without Borders for an independent investigation, contending that the targeting of its hospital was a war crime.

FULL INVESTIGATION PLEDGED

The Afghan and U.S. governments have pledged a full investigation, while President Barack Obama has said he expects a full accounting of the circumstances surrounding the bombing. The president said he would wait for those results before making a judgment.

But because Afghan forces triggered the American airstrike on the hospital, any investigation by the two governments will be dismissed as a whitewash if the outcome falls short of pointing the finger of blame.

Here’s a question that investigators must seek to answer: Were the Afghan forces following orders from the top when they requested American assistance?

It’s not a stretch to imagine the Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani wanting to show the people that the Taliban insurgents who had overrun the city of Kunduz were no longer in control and that their three-day occupation was not cause for concern.

The government in Kabul is desperate to put a positive spin on the situation because it is being accused of ignoring warnings that the insurgents were threatening to overrun Kunduz.

Indeed, a top official acknowledged failures, and the former local governor said he had repeatedly appealed to the government to beef up security.

Although a counteroffensive dislodged the Taliban occupation in heavy fighting, the success of the insurgents’ invasion has sent shock waves through the country. It also has forced the U.S. and its allies fighting Islamic extremism to take a hard look at the strategy that has been employed in that war-torn country.

As the Associated Press reported from Kabul, the fallout of the Taliban occupation was an embarrassing blow to President Ghani.

‘NO ONE LISTENED’

Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, chairing a council of ministers broadcast on live television, said the government had been warned “many times” that Kunduz might come under attack, but “no one listened.”

And Mohammad Omer Safi, the Kunduz governor who was sacked by Ghani on Sept. 30, two days after the Taliban overran the city, said he warned the government in Kabul that the insurgents had held control of 60 percent of the province for at least three months and was amassing outside the city.

Against that backdrop, it is not beyond the realm of possibilities that the Ghani government needed to re-establish its credibility with the Afghan people and, therefore, cooked up a reason to trigger an American airstrike in Kunduz.

Hence, there is an argument to be made that the demand by Doctors Without Borders for an independent investigation is not unreasonable.

Indeed, the head of the aid organization said that GPS coordinates for the hospital had been provided to American and Afghan forces, and they were re-sent after the initial bombing of the medical facility.

If that’s proved to be true, heads must roll.