Is David Petraeus turning the tide in Afghanistan? Consider the following from The AfPak Channel today:
NATO airstrikes yesterday reportedly killed over two dozen Afghan civilians in two separate incidents in the eastern province of Nangarhar, after a helicopter struck a car carrying a flood victim and his family, and an airstrike hit a compound from which NATO forces were reportedly taking fire (LAT, AFP, BBC, AP, AJE, NYT, VOA). Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into the deaths, which occurred less than a day after ISAF Commander Gen. David Petraeus issued rules restricting the use of airstrikes against structures (Reuters). And in Nangarhar's capital Jalalabad, many music stores are shutting down after a stepped-up Taliban intimidation campaign (Guardian).
A suicide bomber struck a joint Afghan police-NATO convoy in Kunduz, reportedly killing at least 11 Afghans (NYT, AP). And Germany announced that it would pay 100 Afghan families $5,000 each as compensation for the deaths of civilians killed in a German-ordered airstrike on a fuel tanker in Kunduz (Canadian Press).
Moral: Win when you surge. The above does not look like a win in progress. It looks like the Keystone Kops at their klutziest.
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