Pentagon: 2015 Strike on Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Afghanistan Was Not a War Crime
Pentagon: 2015 Strike on Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Afghanistan Was Not a War Crime by Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Dan Lamothe, Washington Post
A Pentagon investigation into a 2015 airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan found that the failures that led to the disaster did not amount to a war crime because they were not intentional, Army Gen. Joseph L. Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, said Friday.
The Pentagon said it disciplined 16 service members involved in the attack, which killed at least 30 people, including medical staff and patients. The U.S. troops involved did not know they were striking a medical facility, Votel said, and their punishments ranged from formal counseling to letters of reprimand.
“They were trying to do the right thing. They were trying to support our Afghan partners,” said Votel. “Unfortunately, they made a wrong judgment in this particular case and ended up targeting this Doctors Without Borders facility.”
Five service members, including a general officer, were removed from Afghanistan. None of the 16 service members have faced court-martial…
