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Pentagon defends { July 16 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9764-2002Jul15.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9764-2002Jul15.html
Top Pentagon Official Defends Attack on Village in Afghanistan
By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, July 16, 2002; Page A13
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, July 15 -- A senior Pentagon official said today that the Bush administration "regrets" the loss of civilian life at a village attacked by U.S. warplanes July 1 but has "no regrets whatsoever" about pursuing terrorists and "very little doubt" that there were terrorists in the area of the attack.
Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, said the U.S. military campaign here had "taken out half the leadership of al Qaeda and almost half the Taliban leadership." But he said those remaining would be "a lot harder to find" and that "we can't let up the pressure now."
Wolfowitz, who detoured from a visit to Turkey to spend the day in Afghanistan, said he was consulting with Turkish officials about U.S. policy toward Iraq. He said the administration has "not made any final decisions" about possible ways to bring about a change in the Iraqi leadership.
In Kabul, Wolfowitz met with President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan defense minister, and he visited a U.S. training program for the new Afghan army. He said his talks here focused largely on the training, which has been plagued by delays and recruitment problems, and that officials are seeking ways to speed it up.
In the afternoon, Wolfowitz flew to the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, where he met briefly with Abdurrashid Dostum, the regional militia chief whose forces have continued to skirmish with a rival militia headed by Attah Mohammad. Both U.S. and U.N. officials have been trying to broker a lasting truce in the region.
In response to questions about the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan, which has been criticized here since air attacks on July 1 killed approximately 48 villagers in rural Uruzgan province, Wolfowitz said repeatedly that the role of U.S. forces is one of "liberation, not occupation."
Wolfowitz also praised the U.S. anti-terrorist operation here, calling it "amazing" and "remarkable." He ticked off a list of what he called the campaign's successes worldwide, including the capture of a senior al Qaeda leader in Pakistan and information that led to other arrests or leads in Singapore and Malaysia.
Speaking to reporters at this U.S. military base north of Kabul, Wolfowitz said the United States "always regrets the loss of civilian lives" but has "no regrets about going after the bad guys."
He said "there is very little doubt" that there were terrorists or "people harboring terrorists" in the area that was attacked by U.S. warplanes in Uruzgan.
The attack by a U.S. Air Force Special Forces AC-130 gunship occurred in the predawn hours when local villagers say the only gunfire in the area was part of a wedding celebration. But a military spokesman here, Maj. Gary Tallman, said on the day of the attack that the gunship came under "deliberate and sustained antiaircraft fire." Several days later, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Washington that U.S. forces in the village saw a gun firing on the plane.
Today, however, Air Force Brig. Gen. John W. Rosa Jr., deputy director for current operations on the Joint Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon that he had no information indicating that the AC-130 had been fired upon from the village.
"I don't know that," Rosa said. "It could well have been."
Asked whether he was backing away from Newbold's assertion, Rosa said: "I can't say unequivocally that the AC-130 was fired on."
After Rosa's briefing, the Pentagon issued a written clarification of his remarks that said the AC-130's crew reported "surface-to-air fire directed at them." U.S. soldiers in the village, the clarification said, "also witnessed fire being directed at the aircraft during the operation."
Wolfowitz repeated his regret over the attack, but added: "This is a difficult situation in which people are attacking our forces. In a combat zone, unfortunately, sometimes mistakes are made. . . . I don't believe they can be completely prevented."
A U.S. military investigation into the attack is to begin shortly, and the officer heading it, Brig. Gen. Anthony Przybyslawski, said today that he had been ordered to "find out the facts and circumstances," collect evidence and make recommendations "to prevent these types of situations from occurring."
Przybyslawski said he had no idea how long the probe by a 12-member team would take and that he was not sure "where we will go" on the issue of casualties. Afghan officials have said at least 48 civilians died and 117 were injured, but U.S. officials have not officially accepted that number.
After the attack, Afghan officials called for "stronger measures" by the United States to prevent such mistakes, but Foreign Minister Abdullah said after meeting with Wolfowitz today that "we are satisfied with the measures taken" and that the "thorough investigation" promised by U.S. officials was "what was needed."
Both Abdullah and Wolfowitz appeared to shrug off the potential challenge to U.S. military operations posed last week by a group of southern Afghan provincial governors who said they would insist on more control over such operations and sought greater involvement for regional Afghan fighters.
Instead, Wolfowitz focused on the need to quickly establish and prepare a functioning national army, which Afghanistan has lacked for more than a decade. For security, the Afghan government is still relying on regional militias and cooperation with U.S. and other foreign forces, but Karzai has no direct control over either.
Neither Wolfowitz nor Afghan officials gave any details as to how the United States might help speed up the training of a national army, but both suggested that Wolfowitz's visit might give a push to the program. Wolfowitz also said the assassination of an Afghan vice president in Kabul on July 6 showed that "Afghanistan is still a very dangerous place."
News services reported tonight that Karzai's government had ordered all private militias to disband, but it was unclear how the order would be enforced.
"Armed sections of all parties are proclaimed illegal and ordered disbanded," a presidential spokesman, Syed Fazl Akbar, told the Associated Press. The fighters of the disbanded militias must come under the central command of the Defense Ministry, state television reported.
Staff writer Vernon Loeb in Washington contributed to this report.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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