Roadblocks to Peace: Canadians Kill Kids in Kandaharby C. L. Cook Canadians
are largely aware of the number of "their" troops killed during the
nation's near seven-year entanglement in Afghanistan, but finding out
how many Afghans have perished at the hands of those troops is
impossible; because like Colin Powell, the Canadian Forces "don't do
body counts."
UPDATE: Graham Thomson follows up his story of the children's death Sunday in an interview with the grieving father. Thomson quotes Rozi Muhammed;
- "I was knocked unconscious. When I woke up, the Canadians came
and gave us some treatment. After that, I collected some of the pieces
of the children. My wife was crying, she was in a very bad way."
The fatal Kandahar incident comes close on the heels of another deadly encounter for civilians at a Coalition roadblock in neighbouring Helmand province, where four civilians were shot dead for a failure to stop in timely fashion.
Reaction from military officials in the Canadian incident followed a pattern familiar to the innumerable similar cases involving the United States in both Afghanistan and Iraq: Speaking for Task Force Kandahar, Canadian Forces Captain Sonia Dumouchel-Connock expressed regret, saying:
- "The Canadian Forces are in the process of making contact with the
family of the children, and we will express our deepest condolences to
the family. We profoundly regret the incident, and share in
their pain as we are committed to working with the Afghan people to
stabilize their country and improve their lives. This is a tough
incident for the crews involved to deal with as this is the last thing
soldiers want to happen."
How many other "regrettable" incidents like this are attributable to the Canadian Forces is difficult to know, but Afghan officials estimate more than 60 civilians killed at Coalition roadblocks in the past month alone.
In past cases, Canada has paid compensation to families of those wrongly killed but the CF spokesperson would not go into the details in today's incident, saying;
- "Though it is not our policy to discuss in detail compensation to
families who are affected as this family is after last night's
incident, I can tell you that we will strive to follow cultural customs
and traditions in the manner in which we express our condolences."
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