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Afghanistan

U.S. Pledges To Investigate Afghan Air Strike Casualty Reports

Chairman of the U.S. Joints Chief of Staff Gen. Martin DempseyChairman of the U.S. Joints Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey
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Chairman of the U.S. Joints Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey
Chairman of the U.S. Joints Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey
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By RFE/RL
WASHINGTON -- The United States has pledged to investigate a June 6 NATO air strike in Afghanistan and take "appropriate actions" amid Afghan accounts that as many as 18 civilians were killed.

General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said two civilians had come forward to say they were wounded in the Logar Province strike but that an initial sweep did not find any other civilian casualties.

Dempsey told reporters, "We do our very best to avoid civilian casualties and so this investigation will try to determine if there were civilian casualties."

A NATO spokesman also said they were investigating, but had not yet received reports of civilian deaths from the strike, which targeted Taliban militants.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called the incident "unacceptable."

With reporting by AFP and AP
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by: William from: Aragon
June 08, 2012 00:16
Given that the US military classifies any male over the age of 14 that is killed as an enemy combatant, the chances of them admitting the true scale of fatalities is very low.

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