President Ashraf Ghani tasked a commission with investigating alleged civilian casualties in an airstrike in Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province.
The airstrike by the Afghan Air Force hit a religious school in the Dasht-i-Archi district on Monday and allegedly caused civilian deaths besides inflicting casualties on the Taliban.
“To illustrate the nature of the harm sustained to civilians in the incident, President Ghani has assigned a commission” to carry out a “broad-based investigation and report back about findings of their investigation to the national security council within a week,” a statement from ARG (Presidential Palace)) said.
The task team will be headed up by Gen Khudaidad Hazara, the Inspector General of the National Security Council, and include presidential advisors Tahir Safai and Sayed Sulaiman Hamid. Also appointed to the task team are representatives from the ministry of defense, ministry of interior, National Directorate of Security, the attorney general’s office, and the independent directorate of local governance.
The statement added that the president also offered condolences to the families of civilians who lost their lives and directed the authorities concerned to help the injured people and provide them necessary assistance.
This comes after the ministry of defense’s deputy spokesman Mohammad Radmanish said on Tuesday afternoon the Afghan Air Force did not target civilians but had targeted a gathering of Taliban members and their commanders.
Residents in the area rejected these claims and said civilians at a madrassa were targeted.
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