U.S. Airstrike Obliterates Afghan Hospital Killing 19

Less than a week after the Taliban managed to capture the city of Kunduz, the first major city that they had taken in 14 years, US forces have started a bombing campaign to help their Afghan allies retake the battered urban area. But early Saturday morning, one of these airstrikes managed to obliterate one of the few functioning hospitals in the region, which was run by Doctors Without Borders.

At least 12 doctors and 7 patients were killed in the incident. Doctors Without Borders claims that they had repeatedly informed US and Afghan forces of the hospital’s location, with the latest communication occurring on September 29th. They’ve also added that there were no Taliban fighters in or around the hospital, and they have since demanded a “full and transparent” account of what happened. The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights called it “utterly tragic, inexcusable, and possibly even criminal,” before demanding an investigation, and adding that “the seriousness of the incident is underlined by the fact that, if established as deliberate in a court of law, an airstrike on a hospital may amount to a war crime.”

What’s especially interesting about this incident, is that the US and her allies routinely inflict massive civilian casualties with airstrikes all over the world. This attack is only receiving broad mainstream media attention because the target happened to be a hospital. I guess when one of our drones wipes out a funeral or wedding party to eliminate one potential target, it’s no longer a newsworthy war crime.