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Pentagon Says No Punishment for U.S. Troops Involved in Deadly Kabul Strike That Kills 10

INTERNATIONAL: The Pentagon has said on Monday that no U.S. military personnel would be held accountable for an August drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 civilians, including seven children.

The U.S. Defense Department spokesman John Kirby says that they take issues of civilian harm very seriously and they are not going to be above or afraid to make changes to the way they analyze information and intelligence, act on that intelligence, target and actual execution procedures of a strike.

An earlier investigation by the Air Force inspector general has reported 29 August strike was caused by execution errors, interpreting information that supported certain viewpoints, and communication breakdowns. The military has previously called the strike a "tragic mistake."

Kirby claims that senior commanders had made a number of recommendations to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin about the incident, none of which included any accountability measures for specific personnel. Austin has accepted the recommendations, Kirby has said. If the Secretary of defense has believed that in the case of the 29 August airstrike, that accountability was, was warranted and needed, he would certainly support those kinds of efforts.

Kirby has noted the high level of the threat facing U.S. forces following a deadly bombing outside the Kabul airport that killed 13 troops, context that he said was important. There was a breakdown in process and execution and procedural events, not the result of negligence, not the result of misconduct, not the result of poor leadership, he clarifies.

While the Pentagon has said it is working to offer condolence payments and relocation to the family of Afghans killed in the strike, it is still in talks with an aid organization that has employed one of the victims.

PHOTO: VARIOUS OF U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN JOHN KIRBY AT BRIEFING


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