The Activist

A United Nations human rights team has found “convincing evidence” that at least 90 civilians — including 60 children — were killed in US air strikes on a village in western Afghanistan on Thursday night. The Afghan government estimates puts the number of killed in the incident at 95 civilians. Mohammad Iqbal Safi, a member of the Afghan government commission investigated, said 60 children were between three months old and 16 years old were killed as they slept, dozens more were maimed by the strikes.

There is significant cause for concern that the death toll from these strikes could rise as more rubble is uncovered. The United States military however still states officially that it believes that 25 militants and 5 civilians were the only causalities, despite UN and Afghan reports to the contrary.

There has been no response from either the McCain or the Obama campaign. Barack Obama wants to shrink the war in Iraq through a cautious “phased withdrawal” that will leave thousands of troops and mercenaries in Iraq indefinitely, but has repeated his desire to continue the legacy of American belligerence and escalate US involvement in Afghanistan.

It is estimated by RAND that $100 per capita is the minimum required to stabilize a country evolving out of war. Bosnia received $679 per capita, Kosovo $526, while Afghanistan received $57 per capita in the key years, 2001-2003.
When the United States installed the Hamid Karzai government, Afghanistan ranked 172nd out of 178 nations on the United Nation’s Human Development Index. It has the highest rate of infant mortality in the world, a life expectancy rate of 44-45 years, and the youngest population of any country. In 2005, 95 percent of Kabul’s residents were living without electrical power.

So far this year the most modest of UN estimates puts the civilian death toll in Afghanistan well above one thousand dead.

So much for the good war…