At least 16 Afghan police officers have been killed in friendly fire following a botched US airstrike over Helmand. Afghan forces have been waging deadly battles to retake the Taliban-held controlled province.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/US Air Force/Lt. Col. Leslie Pratt
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The Helmand governor's office on Saturday morning confirmed the death toll following an inspection of the struck compound in the Gereshk District.
Two more Afghan officers were wounded in Friday's strike.
NATO's mission in Afghanistan issued a statement, saying: "During a US-supported (Afghan security) operation, aerial fires resulted in the deaths of the friendly Afghan forces who were gathered in a compound."
Endless battle for power in Afghanistan
Seventeen years after the US invasion of Afghanistan, the war-torn country remains in the grip of Islamist violence. A string of deadly attacks in the last year suggests militants are stronger than ever.
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Fragile security
Repeated attacks in Afghanistan in 2018 and 2019 have killed and wounded hundreds of innocent Afghans, and shown the world the fragile and worsening state of security in the conflict-stricken country. The incidents have plunged war-weary Afghan citizens into a state of despair and highlighted the limitations faced by the government in Kabul in ensuring public security.
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A long series of attacks
The violent incidents have made Afghanistan once again a staple of international headlines. Outfits like the Taliban and the "Islamic State" (IS) have claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Afghan government is under heavy pressure to restore security and take back territory controlled by a number of insurgent groups, including the Taliban and IS.
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Spring offensive
In 2018, the Taliban announced the start of their annual spring offensive, dismissing an offer of peace talks by President Ashraf Ghani. The militants, fighting to restore their version of strict Islamic law to Afghanistan, said their campaign was a response to a more aggressive US military strategy adopted in 2017, which aims to force the militants into peace talks.
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Trump's Afghanistan policy
US President Donald Trump unveiled a new strategy for Afghanistan in 2017, vowing to deploy more troops to train and advise Afghan security forces. Trump also pledged to support Afghan troops in their war against the Taliban and maintain US presence in the country for as long as there was a need for it. In 2019, he reversed course and promised a troop pullout.
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Afghan peace process
Despite President Ghani's offer in February 2018 for peace talks "without preconditions," the Taliban had until 2019 shown no interest, dismissing the peace overtures as a "conspiracy."
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Pakistani support
Pakistan has been under pressure from Kabul and Washington to stop offering safe havens to militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, a charge Islamabad denies and insists that its influence over the insurgents has been exaggerated. Kabul and Islamabad regularly trade accusations of harboring the other country's militants and the harsh language has underscored the strains between them.
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Role of the warlords
Apart from the Taliban, Afghan warlords exercise massive influence in the country. Last year, Hizb-i-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar returned to Kabul after a 20-year exile to play an active role in Afghan politics. In September 2016, the Afghan government signed a deal with Hekmatyar in the hope that other warlords and militant groups would seek better ties with Kabul.
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An inefficient government
In the midst of an endless battle for power, President Ghani's approval ratings continue to plummet. Rampant corruption in the Afghan government and a long tug-of-war within the US-brokered national unity government has had a negative impact on the government's efforts to eradicate terrorism.
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"We would like to express our deepest condolences to the families affected by this unfortunate incident," the statement said, adding there would be a probe into the friendly-fire incident.
The Pentagon had already confirmed the errant airstrike, but was unable to confirm the number of casualties.
According to Helmand police chief Abdul Ghafar Safi, the dead were police officers operating alongside Afghan military forces in Helmand, an area that has been one of the focal points in Afghanistan's 16-year-long war. Two years ago, as US and NATO troops begun pulling out of the country, a resurgent Taliban was able to recapture large parts of the province.
This has prompted many Western forces to reverse their decision to withdraw and led Afghan forces, propped up by NATO troops, to wage long and fierce battles.
Helmand carries a particularly strategic importance for each side, namely for its dams and power grids, but also for its opium production, which helps finance the insurgency. The Taliban currently controls roughly 80 percent of the province.
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Rising number of US airstrikes
The Taliban's resurgence has also been met by a large uptick in the number of US airstrikes over Afghanistan. Figures released this week showed that the US had dropped more bombs in the year to June than during the whole of 2016. In just the past five days, US forces carried out 52 airstrikes in Helmand.
While the strikes have managed to push back the Taliban, at least to a degree, civilian casualties have also risen. United Nations figures revealed that the number of civilians killed or injured in airstrikes in the first six months of 2017 had increased by 43 percent when compared to the same period last year.
The US is the only foreign force conducting airstrikes in Afghanistan.
