Tuesday marks one month since the U.S. bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, yet the Pentagon still hasn’t released a preliminary report that was initially promised within days of the strikes.
The Defense Department now says there is no expected release date on the initial report, and that it could be released at the same time as a more in-depth report that officials have said will take at least several months.
Doctors Without Borders hosted a rally in New York on Tuesday afternoon to commemorate the one-month anniversary of the bombings, which killed 30 people, including 13 hospital staff and 10 patients. Seven bodies have still not been identified, according to a release from the group.
Gen. John Campbell, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told reporters at the Pentagon on Oct. 5 that he was looking to wrap up the initial investigation quickly.
“I should have a preliminary report here very shortly in the next couple of days,” he said.
But one month later, the Pentagon has yet to release even the preliminary report. Officials have said this initial investigation will formally find the U.S. at fault for the bombing, which senior officials, including the president, have already publicly apologized for. The initial report will not determine why the hospital was struck or who is responsible for the mistake.
The U.S. bombed the hospital after Afghan forces called for air support during a fight with the Taliban. Witnesses to the attack on Oct. 3 described strikes specifically targeting the medical facility, despite calls made during the attack to the U.S. pleading for them to stop since the target was a hospital. Officials at the United Nations have suggested the bombing could constitute a war crime.
As the Afghan government and U.S. military each conduct their own investigation, Doctors Without Borders has called for an independent investigation, saying that the military cannot reliably investigate itself.
The Pentagon is also working on a more in-depth report that likely won’t be released for months. Officials said this investigation will answer questions about why a U.S. plane bombed the hospital, even though Doctors Without Borders said the group provided GPS coordinates of the medical facility to Afghan and U.S. military leaders. That longer report should also address who is responsible for the tragic mistake.
A Defense Department spokesman said it is not yet clear if the preliminary report and more in-depth 15-6 investigation will be released separately or together.
“There is no expected release date for either report at this time. Our focus is on properly conducting these investigations and getting it right,” Maj. Roger Cabiness told the Washington Examiner. “When it comes to the investigation itself, our interest is in ensuring that it’s thorough, and we want it to be thorough because this is something that provides us legal basis.”
