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U.S. criticized for cluster bomb use
Pentagon says military working to avoid civilian casualties
10/25/2001
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – U.S. aircraft have struck an Afghan village with a
cluster bomb, inflicting an unknown number of casualties and scattering deadly
unexploded "bomblets" through village streets, U.N. officials said Wednesday.
"Many, many casualties" from the village and a nearby military compound were
taken by vehicles and pushcarts to the main hospital in Herat, less than two
miles away, said Richard Daniel Kelly, manager for the U.N. Mine Action Program
for Afghanistan. His Afghan staff in Herat reported the use of the bomb, which
many countries and nongovernment organizations are trying to ban. Mine-clearance workers piled sandbags around bright yellow bomblets released
by the cluster bomb around the village of Shaker Qala after the attack Tuesday,
U.N. officials said, because they did not know how to disarm them. In Washington, Army Maj. James Cassella, a Pentagon spokesman, said, "We take
great care to target only military targets, to avoid inflicting civilian
casualties. "When that happens, we certainly regret that. But for that specific incident,
I don't have any information yet." The reported use of cluster bombs comes amid reports that the U.S. air
attacks on Afghanistan are inflicting a rising number of civilian casualties.
The reports are fueling protests around the Islamic world and undermining the
government of Pakistan, a key ally in the U.S.-led campaign, analysts said. The Pentagon has dismissed claims of significant civilian casualties as
propaganda by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia, which U.S. forces are trying
to topple. There is growing evidence that the Taliban is trying to use civilians as
shields or even inviting civilian casualties. Refugees fleeing
Taliban-controlled areas have said the Taliban are moving troops and tanks into
residential areas of Kabul, the capital. There is also information that Taliban
forces are occupying "residences and offices" in Kandahar, the spiritual and
political base of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, said U.N. spokeswoman
Stephanie Bunker. Shaker Qala is less than a mile from the military compound in Herat where a
U.S. bomb destroyed a military hospital and a mosque, U.N. officials said. There
are no precise figures on the number of casualties from the attacks, the
officials said. The Pentagon has acknowledged that it mistakenly damaged what
U.S. officials described as a home for the elderly. The United Nations has asked the United States to provide information on the
cluster bombs used at Shaker Qala so the unexploded bomblets can be
disarmed,U.N. officials said. The incident came to light after residents sought help from the U.N. Mine
Action Center on Tuesday morning, hours after the bomblets fell on their
village, U.N. officials said. "They told the Mine Action Center that many bomblets were littering their
village and that they were afraid and could not leave their homes," Ms. Bunker
said. The U.N. mine program staff went to the village to look at the bomblets and
described their appearance to U.N. officials in Islamabad during a Wednesday
radio conversation, U.N. officials said. The conversations are monitored by
Taliban officials standing in the room with the U.N. staff. U.S. aircraft continued to hit front-line Taliban troop positions with
punishing strikes Wednesday, part of a strategy aimed at making the Taliban
vulnerable to ground attacks by rebel Northern Alliance troops. A Pakistani militant group said Wednesday that 22 of its fighters were killed
in a U.S. attack on Kabul – the deadliest known strike against a group linked to
Osama bin Laden since the air campaign. A group was seen bringing the bodies of 11 of the Pakistani militants to the
Torkham border crossing Wednesday between Afghanistan and Pakistan, hoping to
bury them in their homeland. The Pakistani border guards refused to let them
cross, said a Taliban security chief, Noor Mohammed Hanifi. "They said, 'You wanted to fight with the Taliban then you can bury your dead
in Afghanistan,' " Mr. Hanifi said. Even as the airstrikes continued, hundreds of Afghan tribal chiefs, warlords,
religious leaders, and politicians gathered in the Pakistani border city of
Peshawar to begin formal discussions on a post-Taliban government in
Afghanistan. The meeting was convened by Afghan elder Sayed Ahmad Gailani, a
close associate of deposed King Zahir Shah. Mr. Gailani opened the meeting with a call for an end to the U.S. bombing and
an invitation to moderate Taliban members to join his "Assembly of Peace and
National Unity in Afghanistan," as the gathering is called. He called for an interim government to be established under the former king,
and for a U.N. security force from Islamic countries to keep order. He said an
Islamic constitution should be drafted and national elections held. The king, who is exiled in Rome, was not present, and some of his supporters
criticized the meeting as an attempt by Pakistan and by other Islamic leaders to
take over the process of constructing a new Afghan government. In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell ruled out a dominant role for
Pakistan or any other nation in forming a postwar government for Afghanistan.
With the United Nations taking the lead, all of Afghanistan's neighbors, and
also such countries as China and Russia, must be consulted, Mr. Powell said.
In northern Afghanistan, meanwhile, the Northern Alliance added its voice to
the growing calls for U.S. forces to make greater efforts to avoid civilian
casualties. "A major concern is that of civilian casualties...which have to be avoided by
any means," said Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, speaking at a news conference. The
Afghan people "have suffered for so long under the rule of terrorist groups
...and now they are suffering in a different way." The use of cluster bombs by U.S. forces in Afghanistan appears to be part of
the shift in the air campaign to emphasize strikes on front-line Taliban troops
and equipment, said Mr. Kelly, the U.N. official. Cluster bombs are designed to kill people and destroy vehicles over a large
area by unleashing scores of bomblets. "The villagers have a lot to be afraid of" because the bomblets could explode
if villagers "so much as even touch them," he said. The bombing campaign began Oct. 7, on President Bush's order, after the
Taliban refused to surrender Mr. bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks on the United States. Amid the growing reports of civilian casualties caused by the U.S. campaign,
the Pentagon's earlier explanation that it had accidentally struck a home for
the elderly outside the Herat military compound – rather than a hospital inside
the compound – came under increased scrutiny Wednesday. When questioned by a Pakistani journalist who noted that there are no group
homes for the elderly in Afghanistan, Ms. Bunker, the U.N. spokeswoman, said she
was baffled by the Pentagon explanation. Wire services contributed to this report.