Allegation by Charity: US troops storm through Afghan hospital

i saw it video before

Let’s see, a Swedish charity using American medicine in an American funded and outfitted hospital, guarded and protected from Taliban forces that would just as soon behead them for their infidelity to Allah or for just showing their female faces in public, has protested the actions of those protectors because they entered the hospital searching for violent radical Islamists. I’m not the least bit surprised.

 

Was the headline meant to be sarcastic, or do you actually support the efforts and sacrifice of the US and NATO troops in Afghanistan?

This report could have included the statement "Troops demanded that the hospital staff in Wardak, south of Kabul, alert the military if insurgents came for treatment."

"The medics refused."

Are we at war with the Taliban or not? Does this charity organization believe that medical care provided to "the enemy" is not a cuase for concern. This is a war. It will continue to be a war for a very long time. Or, we could give up and all pull out. Troops storming hospitals would pale in comparison to what the Taliban would do to the local Afghani people without US and NATO troups there.

Thanks for commenting.  My point was that you can.t claim to be winning hearts and minds if this happened as it is alleged.  I fully realize that the Taliban are a force to contend with.  We have had two incidents in as many days reported that fly in the face of the Hearts and Mind Policy.  One of them is the air attack on the fuel tankers with as many as 70 civilians killed.

ACB, you're welcome. Thank you for starting the discussion. Your point is well taken. I do disagree that you can't claim to be winning the hearts and minds. We are not perfect, we will make more mistakes, war has casualties and some will be caused by forces of good fighting forces of evil. Regretfully, some casualities will also be among the innocent. I do not mean to sound unfealing, just pragmatic. This is going to be a long struggle. We will win the hearts and minds. This too will take time and there will be setbacks.

I understand where you're coming from.  As a former officer in an infantry unit, this is also very frustrating to me.  I recall Canada's involvement in Somalia, where two of our soldiers killed  Somali teenager and took trophy pictures.  Sometimes troops get overanxious and it takes good leadership to keep those frustration from getting out of control.

These tours are long and Afghanistan has already been a long struggle.  I'm afraid it will be going on for much longer.  Up to recently NATO was able to contain Taliban operations in the Southernmost provinces.  Their reach seems to be extending to the North now. 

I certainly hope that General McChrystal comes up with a viable strategy and that he gets the support needed.

ACP, Well said.

I just heard on a news channel that this may be drummed up charges.  Apparently US troops are speaking out.  Once I can get confirmation on their side of the story I will update the article.

albertacowpoke

Thank you for not taking the first report as the final report.  So often we hear of charges that sensationalize events to find out later--sometimes months or years later--that the reports were false.  But by the then the damage is done.  This is not meant to mitigate the importance of timely reporting, rather, to emphasize the value of what you are doing by looking further immediately to divert the spread of misinformation.

One wonders what their intel was in order to carry out storming a hospital.

At this point it's an allegation only.  More to follow, I'm sure

I wouldn't put it past the Taliban to fill those hospitals with their fighters and claim that they are a safe haven.  If, however, these troops invaded a legit hospital operating as such then it cannot go unpunished.