Charity says (barbaric) US troops stormed Afghan hospital

[ModerateMuslim]

KABUL — The U.S. military faced more criticism in Afghanistan on Monday as a charity accused American soldiers of storming through a provincial hospital, breaking down doors and tying up staff and visitors in a hunt for insurgents.

Critics say such heavy-handed tactics violate international principles and threaten to undermine support for the war against the Taliban. The American military said it was investigating the allegation, which comes on the heels of a furor over disputed reports that up to 70 Afghan civilians died in a NATO airstrike in the country's north last week.

Civilian deaths and intrusive searches have bred resentment among the Afghan population nearly eight years after the U.S.-led coalition invaded to oust the Taliban's hard-line Islamist regime, which was sheltering al-Qaida terrorist leaders.

On Monday, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan said the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division forced their way into the charity's hospital to look for insurgents in Wardak province, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) southwest of Kabul.

"This is a clear violation of internationally recognized rules and principles," said Anders Fange, the charity's country director. No one was harmed in the raid, but Fange said it violated an agreement between NATO forces and aid groups working in the area.

U.S. military spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker confirmed that the hospital was searched last week but had no other details. She said the military was looking into the incident.

"We are investigating, and we take allegations like this seriously," she said. "Complaints like this are rare."

Fange said U.S. troops kicked in doors, tied up four hospital guards and two people visiting hospitalized relatives, and forced patients out of beds during their search late Wednesday night.

They also barged into the women's wards, he said, adding that strange men entering rooms where women are in beds is a serious insult to the local Muslim culture and word of it could turn the community against international troops.

When they left two hours later, the soldiers ordered hospital staff to inform coalition forces if any wounded insurgents were admitted, and the military would decide if they could be treated, he said.

The staff refused. Fange said informing on patients would be an ethical breach, put the staff at risk and make the hospital a target. He demanded guarantees the military would not enter hospitals without permission in future.

"If the international military forces are not respecting the sanctity of health facilities, then there is no reason for the Taliban to do it either," he said. "Then these clinics and hospitals would become military targets."

While the search operation may have sparked outrage and goes against common practice, it's not clear whether it broke any international rules of war. International humanitarian law, which includes the Geneva Conventions, requires that civilian hospitals be respected and also protects medical personal and the sick and wounded from combat operations. However, it does not specifically address search operations.

Violence has surged across much of Afghanistan since President Barack Obama ordered 21,000 more U.S. troops to the country this year. Two Canadian troops were killed Sunday when their patrol hit a roadside bomb near Kandahar, Canada's Defence Ministry said. A third service member died of wounds sustained in a separate gunbattle with insurgents in southern Afghanistan, NATO said without giving a nationality.

NATO was also investigating last week's U.S. airstrike in northern Kunduz province. The strike came despite new rules for foreign forces limiting use of airpower to avoid civilian casualties. An Afghan human rights group said Monday the strike on two hijacked fuel tankers may have killed as many as 70 villagers, but a spokesman for the provincial government said all but five of the dead were insurgents.

The increasingly violent Taliban insurgency has killed more civilians in bombings and other attacks than international forces have. On Monday, the government said three militant rockets landed overnight in the capital, Kabul, hitting a house and killing three people. In central Uruzgan province, a remote-controlled bomb targeting a police vehicle exploded in a busy market, killing two children and wounding 16 other people, according to local police official Gulab Khan.

A United Nations report in July said the number of civilians killed in conflict in Afghanistan has jumped 24 percent this year, with bombings by insurgents and airstrikes by international forces the biggest killers. The report said 1,013 civilians were killed in the first half of 2009, 59 percent in insurgent attacks and 30.5 percent by foreign and Afghan government forces. The rest were undetermined.

Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez in Kabul contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[nomadicwarlord]

That's bad. Taliban also commit far more worse atrocities than the Coalition forces.

[SahanGalbeed]

"This is a clear violation of internationally recognized rules and principles," said Anders Fange, the charity's country director. No one was harmed in the raid

No one was hurt ?? good !
As for the rules , can anybody tell me to what rules or conventions of warfare the Taliban abide by ?

MADAFAKIN jokaaaaaaas !!

[abdisamad3]

"This is a clear violation of internationally recognized rules and principles," said Anders Fange, the charity's country director. No one was harmed in the raid

No one was hurt ?? good !
As for the rules , can anybody tell me to what rules or conventions of warfare the Taliban abide by ?

MADAFAKIN jokaaaaaaas !!

the joke is on you monkey..

[abdisamad3]

That's bad. Taliban also commit far more worse atrocities than the Coalition forces.

^^^^another western wanna be monkey..

[nomadicwarlord]

That's bad. Taliban also commit far more worse atrocities than the Coalition forces.

^^^^another western wanna be monkey..

Your ass should be put on a no-fly list, since you exhibit terrorist symptoms . I'm still puzzled at how people can be brainwashed and be blinded by the truth. U need to stop praying to Sheikh Usama. He'll lead you to hell.

You are going to call me Xabashi lover,next. Pathetic peasant.

[abdisamad3]

That's bad. Taliban also commit far more worse atrocities than the Coalition forces.

^^^^another western wanna be monkey..

Your ass should be put on a no-fly list, since you exhibit terrorist symptoms . I'm still puzzled at how people can be brainwashed and be blinded by the truth. U need to stop praying to Sheikh Usama. He'll lead you to hell.

You are going to call me Xabashi lover,next. Pathetic peasant.

you need to stop spreading the word of the kafir and acting like your one of them.those things can lead you to hell..may allah give you back your imaan.and move your mind and heart from the shaydaans word..

[nomadicwarlord]

^I'm a Somali, very proud of my heritage. You? quit pretending to be a Pashtun or Arab. Leave those extra curricular activities to them. I'm 90% sure that you live in the West. Damn ,ungrateful skinny. Don't be exploited by foreign elements, speak about the Somali cause not the Al-Qaeda one. One day, you will join us in rebuilding our country. We'll forgive you when you do so.

[abdisamad3]

Arab is the people of my prophet (saw) and they are my muslim brothers so is pashtuns and all true muslims..iam not the one who denied Somalia peace..
pashtun are not the ones who kill and attack Somalia..arabs are not the ones who colonized Somalia and divided into false borders and gave away half of our land to other countries..if you look back in history you will see when imam axmed gurey conquered half of xabashi land it was our arab and turkish brothers who aided us..the ummah is one if one part of the ummah is suffering we all suffer..I dont need your forgiveness becouse I have done nothing wrong..your the one who needs to ask allah for forgiveness for being an imaanless kafir supporter..

[abdisamad3]

[ToughGong]

ALLAHU AKBAR, ALLAHU AKBAR,ALLUHU AKBAR

[ModerateMuslim]

the kuffar will pay for their crimes against the ummah with their blood, insha'allah!

an honest kafir wrote:

Al Qaeda has a weapon that we cannot destroy, the memory of their wives and kids laying their bombed into bloody body parts that produces a vengeance only our blood can appease.

and as allah swt says:

"If anyone attacks you, then retaliate and attack them in the way that they have attacked you." [2:194 Interpretation of Meaning]

"If an injury has been inflicted on you, make certain that a similar injury has been inflicted, by you, on the disbelievers: there are good days, and bad days, which We give to each side in turn for thereby We know those who believe and choose from among them witnesses (to the Truth)." [31:40 Interpretation of Meaning]

"The retribution for a wrong is to inflict the like (upon the wrong-doer)."[42:40 Interpretation of Meaning]

[abdisamad3]

ALLAHU AKBAR, ALLAHU AKBAR,ALLUHU AKBAR

Allahu akbar brother...

[SahanGalbeed]

Arab is the people of my prophet (saw) and they are my muslim brothers so is pashtuns and all true muslims..iam not the one who denied Somalia peace..
pashtun are not the ones who kill and attack Somalia..arabs are not the ones who colonized Somalia and divided into false borders and gave away half of our land to other countries..if you look back in history you will see when imam axmed gurey conquered half of xabashi land it was our arab and turkish brothers who aided us..the ummah is one if one part of the ummah is suffering we all suffer..I dont need your forgiveness becouse I have done nothing wrong..your the one who needs to ask allah for forgiveness for being an imaanless kafir supporter..

Majeerten gone ashamed !

[abdisamad3]

Arab is the people of my prophet (saw) and they are my muslim brothers so is pashtuns and all true muslims..iam not the one who denied Somalia peace..
pashtun are not the ones who kill and attack Somalia..arabs are not the ones who colonized Somalia and divided into false borders and gave away half of our land to other countries..if you look back in history you will see when imam axmed gurey conquered half of xabashi land it was our arab and turkish brothers who aided us..the ummah is one if one part of the ummah is suffering we all suffer..I dont need your forgiveness becouse I have done nothing wrong..your the one who needs to ask allah for forgiveness for being an imaanless kafir supporter..

Majeerten gone ashamed !

what with that?
bal ii yara tafsiir..