The US DefenseDepartment said Friday that it is committed to offering condolence payments torelatives of the 10 people who were killed in an errant US drone strike inKabul, Afghanistan in August. The statement was to some extent mea culpa forthe controversial drone attacks, but it was also undoubtedly a utilitariangesture by the US rather than a heartfelt move.
The errantdrone strike has put the US into several moral dilemmas. Washington has beenstrongly condemned by the international community, especially by local Afghanpeople. Over a month after the attacks, the US offered a condolence payment ina bid to save face. Meanwhile, considering that the US may need to deal itsrelationship with the Taliban well in the future and try to influenceAfghanistan, the statement of the US Defense Department is also to some extenta gesture to the Taliban.
However, farmore than 10 Afghan civilians died during US troops' withdrawal fromAfghanistan. In the deadly blast outside of Kabul's airport on August 26, about170 people died, with at least 200 wounded. It was later proved that most ofthe dead were shot to death by US troops at the scene. Not to mention more than47,000 Afghan civilians were killed in the Afghan war over the past twodecades.
The US has keptsilent about compensation for casualties of these civilians. This is partlybecause the US' war responsibility in Afghanistan may be difficult to definefrom a legal perspective. But this reflects that the US' attitude toward thedeceased is based on the principle of benefiting the US. The US' warresponsibility in Afghanistan is a mess. Afghanistan has poor ability to holdthe US legally accountable. The subject of accountability is also not clear.Unless the US initiates a serious investigation itself, it would be hard tohold the US legally accountable for the series of crimes it committed in Afghanistan.
But the droneattack that killed 10 Afghan civilians including seven children has beenexposed to the world under media pressure. The follow-up measures proposed byWashington look more like a stopgap measure, even a perfunctory move tominimize the issue. Besides, it is unlikely that Washington will offer aface-to-face apology to relatives of the 10 Afghan people as they havedemanded. Instead, Washington will likely characterize the whole affair as amistake in decision-making, obscuring it in the form of condolence payments,and avoid more explicit responsibility. According to media reports, most exgratia payments are small - usually between $2,500 and $5,000. One of thecondolence payments issued in 2019 was only $131.
Over the past20 years, whether it was during the Afghanistan war, the Iraq war or the globalwar on terrorism, the US actually paid the price for its attitude andirresponsible behavior. The US has used drone strikes and targeted eliminationto attack. But as said by Chris Woods, director of the UK-based monitoringgroup Airwars, You cannot bomb cities and towns without significantcivilian harm.
At the sametime, the irresponsible actions of US soldiers, such as burning the Koran andblaspheming Islam, have intensified the anti-US sentiment among the Islamiccountries. This provides the soil for the breeding of extremism and terrorism.
The US'utilitarianism has brought disaster and suffering to the world. It has alsocaused great losses and troubles to itself. But it seems the US still has notfigured out that what goes around comes around.
（作者：刘中民，系上海外国语大学中东研究所教授）
来源：Global Times
