The U.S. airstrike last month that destroyed a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in Kunduz occurred because troops mistook it for a government compound taken over by the Taliban located several hundred meters away, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan said Wednesday, citing the results of an investigation into the incident.
“This was a tragic but avoidable accident caused primarily by human error,” Gen. John Campbell told reporters. “We will study what went wrong, and take the right steps to prevent it in the future.”
He said he would refer some of the findings to the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, raising the possibility of disciplinary action, including possible courts-martial. His spokesman, Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner, told reporters that the individuals most closely related to the incident already had been suspended from their duty positions.
“The medical facility was misidentified as a target by U.S. forces who believed they were striking a different target several hundred meters away,” Campbell said, calling that a result of “multiple errors.”
“The report determined that the proximate cause of this tragedy was avoidable human error, compounded by process errors and technical failures,” he added. “We have reviewed each of these failures and implemented corrections as appropriate.”
A U.S. AC-130 gunship destroyed the hospital on Oct. 3 amid heavy fighting to hold off Taliban forces who had captured Kunduz, killing 30 medical staff and patients, including three children. The international medical group called the attack a “war crime,” and U.S. officials quickly moved to declare it a mistake. President Obama called Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Doctors Without Borders President Joanne Liu to personally express regret for the attack on Oct. 7.
Campbell said the gunship’s crew was unaware of the hospital’s location, even though U.S. military commanders had received the coordinates from Doctors Without Borders, and the headquarters controlling the gunship did not take appropriate measures to ensure the location was not on a “no-strike” list.
The report concluded that the U.S. special operations commander on the ground had received target coordinates matching those of the hospital from Afghan forces, but also noted that some U.S. troops involved had not followed existing rules of engagement.
“Under the circumstances, the U.S. [special operations forces] commander lacked the authority to direct the aircrew to engage the building,” Campbell said.
The U.S. investigation is one of three into the incident. Campbell said separate investigations by NATO and the Afghan government are complete and produced findings consistent with the U.S. military probe.
The findings also are consistent with Doctors Without Borders’ own investigation, which concluded that the hospital was struck in a “deliberate attack,” though the group continues to demand an independent probe into the incident.
