Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

Karzai: President Obama, Stop this Bombing

Juan Cole 11/06/2008

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on president-elect Barack Obama to reverse the increasing US and NATO dependence on air strikes to combat anti-government guerrillas. The call came in the wake of reports that a US bombing raid intended to disrupt Taliban supply lines to the southern city of Qandahar had accidentally killed 40 civilians and wounded 28 in a wedding party procession near the village of Shah Wali Kot.

Wedding parties in Taliban-controlled areas would be difficult to distinguish from supply convoys from the air, and wedding celebrations often involve tribesmen firing their weapons into the air in celebration, so that they might appear to be hostile to low-flying US helicopters or surveillance aircraft. The US says it will investigate the incident, which would be the third major such bombardment of civilians since July. Some unnamed US officials admitted to the BBC that there were civilian casualties in the air raid.

US air strikes in Afghanistan are up 31% this year. The tactic had been avoided by US commanders in 2004 and 2005 as too risky, since mistaken bombardment of civilian villagers would alienate the Pushtun population in the south and might create sympathy for the Taliban.

Karzai clearly has pleaded with George W. Bush to reduce the incidence of air strikes, and been rebuffed. It is remarkable that he is already appealing directly to Obama, going above Bush’s head so to speak.

Obama has pledged increased ground troops for the Afghanistan War, in addition to earmarking $1 billion for civilian aid to combat the poverty that sometimes creates dissatisfactions that benefit the Taliban.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Israel's Netanyahu banks on TACO Trump as he Launches War on Iran to disrupt Negotiations
  • Iran's Hypersonic Missiles Hit Israeli Refinery, Military Sites, as Israel does the same to Tehran
  • Why did Israel defy Trump – and risk a major War – by striking Iran now? And what happens next?
  • A Pariah State? Western Nations Sanction Israeli Cabinet Members
  • Iraqi Shiites Demand Expulsion of US Troops after Israel Attacks Iran

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved