AFP Photo/Patrick Baz (think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)
JohnnyAdam – Tentera
Amerika Syarikat yang ditempatkan di Afghanistan tidak sengaja tertembak mati
seorang budak lelaki berusia 4 tahun, kata pegawai tempatan. Insiden itu
mendorong teguran daripada Presiden Karzai yang enggan menandatangani
perjanjian keselamatan dengan Amerika Syarikat melainkan ia memberi jaminan
keselamatan awam.
Marin
yang berpangkalan di wilayah keganasan melanda Helmand tersilap melepaskan
tembakan ke atas bayi tersebut kerana penglihatan yang lemah, kata pihak
berkuasa kerajaan tempatan.
“Sebagai
cuaca berdebu, angkatan laut yang berpusat di sana berfikir dia adalah musuh
dan melepaskan tembakan. Hasil daripada silap tembak, dia telah terbunuh,” jurucakap
Gabenor Helmand Province, Omar Zwak, Reuters.
Sebagai
tindak balas kepada kejadian itu, NATO berkata siasatan terhadap perkara itu
akan dilancarkan segera dan bahawa segala langkah yang mungkin diambil untuk
menge-lakkan korban awam.
Kematian
yang berusia 4 tahun di tangan tentera Amerika mencetuskan reaksi marah dari Presiden
Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, yang menuntut menamatkan segera kepada semua operasi
ketenteraan di rumah-rumah awam dan menunjukkan dedikasi yang jelas kepada
proses damai sebelum pakatan keselamatan adalah ditandatangani.
“Kami
telah dipanggil . . . untuk menamatkan mutlak untuk operasi ketenteraan ISAF/NATO
di rumah-rumah dan kampung-kampung untuk mengelakkan pembunuhan seperti mana
kanak-kanak yang tidak bersalah atau orang awam yang menjadi mangsa,” kata jurucakap
presiden, Aimal Faizi, semasa mengulas mengenai kematian lelaki.
Washington
dan Kabul sedang bertelagah atas pakatan keselamatan yang akan menyak-sikan
kehadiran tentera Amerika tinggal di belakang selepas pengeluaran Amerika Syarikat
yang dijadualkan pada bulan Disember. Pentadbiran Obama telah ‘ratcheting’ beri
tekanan kepada Karzai untuk menandatangani perjanjian itu selepas tarikh akhir
31 Disember.
Ia
berpendapat bahawa jika Amerika Syarikat tidak meninggalkan sekurang-kurangnya
8,000 tentera ia boleh membenarkan Taliban untuk mendapatkan semula bertapak
dan negara ini terjun ke dalam “Huru-hara”.
Kerajaan
Afghanistan telah menolak dakwaan ini sebagai “tidak berasas” dan dibayangkan
bahawa ada motif terselindung di sebalik pakatan keselamatan.
“Kami
amat menolak yang tidak berasas kerana mereka pada masa lalu telah dibuktikan
tidak tepat,” Faizi memberitahu Reuters.
‘Tidak menghormati nyawa Afghanistan’
Isu ‘Causalities’
awam telah menjadi tulang pertengkaran di antara Amerika Syarikat dan
Afghanistan baru-baru ini.
Presiden
Karzai decried tentera Amerika Syarikat berikutan serangan udara pada bulan
November yang membunuh seorang anak kecil dan mencederakan dua wanita. Dalam
menegur marah beliau mengisytiharkan serangan yang berlaku di wilayah Helmand “mendedahkan
bahawa tentera Amerika tidak menghormati kehidupan Afghanistan.”
Beliau
berkata jika apa-apa “kekejaman” berterusan, “pakatan keselamatan tidak akan
ditandatangani dengan Amerika.”
Washington
telah mengambil isu dengan kepimpinan Afghanistan selepas Kabul mengu-mumkan
pembebasan 72 tahanan Amerika Syarikat difikirkan “penjenayah berbahaya” yang
disyaki “jenayah keganasan yang berkaitan”. Kerajaan Afghanistan berkata
terdapat terlalu sedikit bukti untuk mewajarkan satu ujian bagi orang-orang
tahanan dan ia tidak boleh membenarkan “rakyat Afghanistan yang tidak bersalah
itu diletakkan dalam tahanan selama berbulan-bulan dan tahun-tahun tanpa
perbicaraan tanpa alasan sama sekali.”
Afghan toddler killed by US troops amid
heightened tension over security pact
US
forces stationed in Afghanistan accidentally gunned down a four-year-old boy,
say local officials. The incident prompted a rebuke from President Karzai who
is refusing to sign a security pact with the US unless it gives assurances of
civilian safety.
Marines
based in the violence-plagued province of Helmand mistakenly opened fire on the
boy because of poor visibility, said local government authorities.
“As the
weather was dusty, the marine forces based there thought he was enemy and
opened fire. As a result of mistaken fire, he was killed,” the spokesman for
the governor of Helmand Province, Omar Zwak, told Reuters.
In
response to the incident, NATO said an investigation into the matter would be
launched immediately and that all possible measures were taken to avoid
civilian casualties.
The
four-year-old’s death at the hands of American troops sparked a furious
reaction from the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who demanded an immediate end
to all military operations on civilian homes and show a clear dedication to the
peace process before a security pact is signed.
"We
have called … for an absolute end to ISAF/NATO military operations on homes and
villages in order to avoid such killings where innocent children or civilians
are the victims," the president's spokesman, Aimal Faizi, said when
commenting on the death of the boy.
Washington
and Kabul are currently at loggerheads over a security pact that would see an
American troop presence stay behind after the US’s scheduled withdrawal in
December. The Obama Administration has been ratcheting up the pressure for
Karzai to sign the agreement after the December 31st deadline.
It
argues that if the US does not leave behind at least 8,000 troops it could
allow the Taliban to regain a foothold and plunge the country into “chaos”.
The
Afghan government has rejected these claims as “baseless” and intimated that
there is an ulterior motive behind the security pact.
"We
strongly reject that as baseless as they have in the past been proved
inaccurate," Faizi told Reuters.
‘No respect for Afghan
life’
The
issue of civilian causalities has been a bone of contention between the US and
Afghanistan recently.
President
Karzai decried US forces following an airstrike back in November that killed a
small child and injured two women. In a furious rebuke he declared the strike
that happened in Helmand province "reveals that American forces have no
respect for Afghan lives."
He said
that if such “cruelty” goes on, “the security pact will not be signed with
America.”
Washington
took issue with Afghan leadership after Kabul announced the release of 72
prisoners the US deems “dangerous criminals” who are suspected of
“terror-related crimes”. The Afghan government said there was too little
evidence to warrant a trial for the detainees and it could not allow “innocent
Afghan citizens to be kept in detention for months and years without a trial
for no reason at all.”
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