Chicago Tribune : Concern mounts over civilian toll in Afghanistan

Concern mounts over civilian toll in Afghanistan

By Carlotta Gall | New York Times News Service | August 9, 2007

SANGIN, Afghanistan - A senior British commander in Helmand province said recently he had asked that U.S. Special Forces leave his area of operations because the high level of civilian casualties they had caused was making it difficult to win over local people. A U.S. military spokesman denied that such a request had been made, formally or otherwise.

But concern over civilian casualties and their consequences underlines differences of opinion among NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan on tactics for fighting Taliban insurgents.

A precise tally of civilian casualties is difficult to pin down, but one reliable count puts the number killed in Helmand this year close to 300 civilians, the majority of them caused by foreign and Afghan forces rather than the Taliban.

"Everyone is concerned about civilian casualties," the senior British commander said. "Of course it is counterproductive if civilians get injured, but we've got to pick up the pack of cards that we have got. Other people have been operating in our area before us."

After 18 months of heavy fighting, the British commanders say they are finally making headway in securing key areas such as this town and are now in the difficult position of trying to win back support among local people whose lives have been devastated by aerial bombing.

Air power backs small teams

U.S. Special Forces have been active in Helmand since U.S. forces first entered Afghanistan in late 2001, and for several years they maintained a small base outside the town of Gereshk. But the foreign troop presence was never more than a few hundred men.

British forces arrived last spring and now have command of the province with some 6,000 men deployed, with small units of Estonian and Danish troops. U.S. Special Forces have continued to assist in fighting insurgents, operating as advisers to Afghan national security forces.

It is these small teams that are coming under criticism, because their tactic is to work in small units that rely on air strikes for cover due to their inability to defend themselves if they encounter large groups of insurgents. Such Special Forces teams have often called in air strikes in Helmand and other places where civilians have subsequently been found to have suffered casualties.

Air strikes killed 31 nomads west of Kandahar in November last year and 57 other villagers, half of them women and children, in western Afghanistan in April. In both cases, U.S. Special Forces were responsible for calling in the air strikes.

British officers on the ground in Helmand, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Americans had caused the largest share of the civilian casualties in their area. They expressed concerns that the Americans' extensive use of air power was proving counterproductive and turning the people against the foreign presence.

The chief British press officer in Helmand, Col. Charles Mayo, defended the U.S. Special Forces, saying they were essential to NATO's efforts to clear out heavily entrenched Taliban insurgents.

U.S. blames Taliban tactics

A U.S. military spokesman said Special Forces would continue to operate in Helmand. He denied that Special Forces tactics had increased civilian deaths and blamed the Taliban for fighting from civilian areas.

"U.S. Special Forces have a tremendous reputation not only in combat operations but also in training and advising the Afghan National Security Forces," Lt. Col. David Accetta, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said by e-mail from Bagram Air Base.

U.S. Special Forces had also provided development and medical assistance, as well as conducting combat missions, which together "can be said to have 'turned the tide' in Helmand," he said.

But the senior British commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that in Sangin, which has been calm for the past month, there was no longer a need for U.S. Special Forces. "There aren't large bodies of Taliban to fight anymore; we are dealing with small groups and we are trying to kick-start reconstruction and development," he said.

Orders had just come from the NATO force's headquarters in Kabul, which is headed by U.S. Gen. Dan McNeill, re-emphasizing the need to avoid civilian deaths, he said.