By Kenneth J. Theisen 
The war in Afghanistan – yes, that war, the one that was escalated by President Obama shortly after he took office – has brought peace to more Afghan civilians.
On September 4th it was reported that an air strike called in by a German contingent of NATO’s International Security Assistance force (ISAF) killed an unknown number of Afghanistan civilians, bringing them the peace of death. (Death is the only peace that the U.S. has brought to anyone in Afghanistan.). Since the beginning of this war in October 2001, thousands of Afghan civilians have been brought a similar peace by the U.S. and its allies.
The German Defense Ministry claimed the air strike was aimed at Taliban hijacked tanker trucks in Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan. Germany has 4,000 troops in Afghanistan. A ministry spokesman asserted that more than “50 militants” were killed when the tankers exploded and that "according to the information available to us, there have been no civilian casualties."
This lie has been told repeatedly in Afghanistan when there have been massive civilian casualties and massacres. The first reports put out by the U.S. or it allies always claim to have killed a great number of insurgents and no civilians. Later investigations then show that a massacre took place. Wedding parties, funerals, and peaceful sleeping villages have been the targets of such air strikes.
Washington military officials admitted that two American F-15 fighter jets conducted the air strike. Two 500-pound GBU-38 bombs were dropped. The GBU-38 is one of the alleged new “smart” weapons manufactured by Boeing. These weapons are engineered to make killing more efficient. The bombs are guided using a global positioning system.
Already the “official” story in this latest massacre is unraveling. Afghan officials report that a number of civilians who were siphoning fuel from the trucks were killed. Investigations have already been ordered by the Afghan puppet government and ISAF. After ordering an investigation, Afghan President Karzai stated, "Targeting civilians is unacceptable for us." The U.S. flunky Karzai has this statement down – he’s used it after every massacre conducted by his puppet masters.
ISAF also made its routine statement about its investigation. ISAF spokesman Canadian Brigadier General Eric Tremblay claimed ISAF is "currently conducting a thorough investigation in close coordination with local and national Afghan government officials, following reports that civilians may have been killed or injured." He said ISAF "regrets any unnecessary loss of human life and is deeply concerned for the suffering that this action may have caused to our Afghan friends." This kind of statement also occurs each time there is a massacre. I would suggest that Karzai and the military just videotape a statement that they can then routinely release after each one of these routine attacks.
In contrast to the German Defense Ministry statement, a senior Afghan police official told the Associated Press (AP) that about 40 civilians who were siphoning fuel from the tanker trucks were killed. The AP also reported that Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed that no Taliban fighters died in the bombing. AP quoted him as stating that the trucks were stuck in mud while attempting to cross the Kunduz River. He said villagers approached the trucks to get fuel from them.
The exact number of casualties is still unknown. Moin Marastial, who represents Kunduz province in the Afghan parliament stated "More than 100 people had been killed…,” according to Al Jazeera. An Al Jazeera producer in Kunduz province reported seeing at least 50 injured burn patients in a local hospital. He said all of them stated that they had lost family members in the air strike.
When General Stanley McChrystal took over leadership of the war in Afghanistan he promised to limit civilian casualties, particularly those from air strikes. His predecessor, General McKiernan, had been criticized for his failure to hold down civilian casualties and for relying on air and missile strikes in conducting the war. But McChrystal’s promise has been illusory, as this most recent of massacres proves.
The war in Afghanistan has been dramatically escalated by our new commander-in-chief, Obama. The war in Afghanistan is an imperialist war and civilians, as usual, bare the brunt of the suffering in such wars. Since McChrystal took command the U.S. and its allies have launched repeated military offensives. And despite claims that the U.S. is there to protect the population, it is the Afghan population that is being killed.
As long as this war rages and regardless of new strategies such as converting the war into a counter-insurgency battle, this war will continue to kill innocent civilians. Each day people in Afghanistan die as a result of this war. But its only when larger massacres occur that we hear from the media about the hell of death created by the U.S. war and occupation.
Regardless of how they are killed, people in Afghanistan are dying – in very large numbers – as a direct result of the U,S. war for domination. Since October 2001. when the U.S. invaded, tens of millions of Afghans have suffered. Millions have become external or internal refugees. The population there is ruled by a corrupt puppet government that has been engaged in drugs and human rights abuses. Afghan women continue to be deeply and horribly oppressed just as they were when the Taliban were in charge. The poverty is at a level among the worst in the world. Child mortality rates are obscene. Health care is virtually non-existent and unemployment and under-employment is extensive. Opium is a major export of the nation. Afghan men take jobs in the military, in the National police, or even with the Taliban to earn a meager living for their families. Warlords openly rule in much of the country. This is a human calamity on a monstrous scale.
And it is all part of the war that the U.S. government and its allies are waging. Part of what some people still seem to consider the “good war”. What will you do to stop this illegal and immoral war? On October 5th you can join World Can’t Wait to do your part.