MILITARY MIGHT This Feb. 19, 2020 file photo shows an aerial view of the Pentagon in Washington, DC XINHUA PHOTO
WASHINGTON, DC: The United States military killed a dozen civilians in 2021, all in Afghanistan, according to a Pentagon report released on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila).
The US Department of Defense “assesses that there were approximately 12 civilians killed and approximately five civilians injured during 2021 as a result of US military operations,” said the report, which Congress has required to be produced annually since 2018, and part of which is classified.
All the civilian deaths occurred in Afghanistan, according to the public part of the report.
The Pentagon has already acknowledged its responsibility for the deaths of 10 members of the same family, including seven children, during the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan at the end of August 2021.
The public document specifies that a civilian was killed in a US strike on January 8 in the city of Herat, and another on August 11 in the city of Kandahar. Two civilians were also wounded on January 18 in Kandahar.
In addition, the US military admitted to having wounded three civilians on January 1 in a strike in Qunyo Barrow, Somalia.
The Pentagon also reassessed its counts from 2018 to 2020, recognizing 10 more dead and 18 wounded, all in Syria.
Nongovernmental organizations regularly publish much higher assessments of deaths and injuries from US strikes in conflict zones.
The organization Airwars, which lists the civilian victims of air strikes around the world, estimated in its annual report published in May that between 15 and 27 civilians had been killed in US operations in Syria alone.
Last January, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged the military to do more to avoid civilian casualties in air strikes after several deadly blunders that tarnished its reputation.
Protecting civilians is a “strategic and moral imperative,” Austin said in a memo to the military chain of command.