British peacekeepers fire pregnant women

Censuring of the UN peacekeeping contingent stationed in Afghanistan is getting more intense every day. There is no notable result of the contingent’s presence in the country; the last incident in the airport of Kabul is another confirmation of it. A furious crowd killed Afghanistan’s civil aviation minister on that day. The contingent’s command knew of the incident, but no measures have been taken. The command said: “We did not interfere with the incident, as it was beyond our jurisdiction.” It is a number one example.

Here is another one. A spokesman for Afghanistan’s police accused British peacekeepers of a groundless firing of a defenseless Afghan family. Peacemakers fired a taxi car, as a result a pregnant passenger was wounded in the neck, one passenger was killed, the rest and the driver were seriously wounded as well. The peacemakers said, they started firing after the firing of the western observation post by unknown people.

On Wednesday the head of the territorial police, on which territory the peacekeepers were stationed, denied the explanation. He said, no firing of the observation post took place; it was a mistake of the peacekeepers.

The two British soldiers, who started firing, have been sent to Great Britain already. The contingent’s command has initiated its own investigation of the incident.

Revelations of the Pentagon head have added fuel to the fire. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld admitted, after the January attacks of the US teams special against two buildings to the north from Kandahar not Al Qaeda members and Talibs, but ordinary civilians suffered. At least 14 people died during the firing, 27 were taken prisoners, they were later released.

Right after the operation the Afghan authorities said the attack was a mistake. But the US Defense Secretary denied the fact. In his words, the American soldiers acted for the sake of self-defense, they started a response fire, there was no mistake.

Donald Rumsfeld sympathized with the death of the Afghan civilians. In his words, CIA officers granted $1,000 to the families of each of the killed. Donald Rumsfeld said: “American soldiers have got the right for self-defense.” Do not people in Afghanistan have the right for self-defense from the peacekeepers, who fire pregnant women under the pretext of self-defense?

Dmitry Litvinovich PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/02/22/37459.html