Arizona Senator John McCain says it’s insulting for some international groups to call the US airstrike on a hospital in Afghanistan a war crime. McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, says it was a tragic accident instigated by the Taliban. Arizona Public Radio’s Aaron Granillo reports.
The US commander in Afghanistan testified before the committee yesterday. General John Campbell said Saturday’s deadly airstrike in Kunduz was a US military decision, and a mistake. Senator McCain tells NPR the attack never would have happened if the Taliban hadn’t been fighting there first.
“I think it’s pretty obvious that fire was coming from the Taliban in the city. I am not saying that there was anything but a terrible tragedy," said Senator McCain. "But, to think that everything we do is with pinpoint accuracy lacks a fundamental understanding of what warfare is all about.”
At least 22 people died when the airstrike hit the clinic run by Doctors Without Borders. The group accuses US forces of deliberately bombing the hospital, and thus committing a war crime. It’s now calling for an independent investigation.
