Aug 26 2008
Who’s Side Is The United Nations On?
The United Nations reported today that U.S.-led airstrike killed 90 Afghan civilians last week in the western province of Herat. They also announced that they had “convincing evidence” but declined to provide pictures or other sources of evidence. How are we supposed to believe them if the don’t show proof? All they relied on was testimony from “eyewitness” and others. How do they know who the eyewitness were? They could have been Taliban posing as civilians and giving false information to the U.N. The Taliban are actively fighting a two front war: the one on the ground and the one in the media. This incident does not look good for America and could further diminish waning support among European allies who are not “gung-ho” about the Afghan war.
I have a hard time believing that our troops would knowingly target civilians. The Taliban has proven time and time again that they are willing to kill anyone and everyone to achieve their goals. There has been 705 civilian deaths this year according to the Associated Press, 536 perpetrated by the Taliban and 158 by international forces. As you can see the U.S does not actively seek to kill Afghan civilians, we are only there to help them repair their country. Where is the accountability for the Taliban in all of this? Why does the U.S. get the brunt of criticism when innocent people get killed? Who’s side is the U.N. on? They are aiding the Taliban by making statements without concrete proof. I know it is their job to present their findings like this but they should do a better job presenting evidence. It just seems like they want to undermine the U.S. mission there, for one reason or another.
