U.S. Strike an "Enormous Coup" for Taliban
Official investigations have ramped-up to determine which of the two NATO allies — German or the U.S. — made the tragic error that led to the misguided strike. But, regardless of the inter-NATO finger-pointing, the real consequences won't wait for the investigation findings. Nor can the real work to try and make amends to the Afghan people.
CBS News consultant Jere Van Dyk is an expert on the Islamic fundamentalist movements in Afghanistan and Pakistan who has travelled extensively along the volatile border region.
Van Dyk said it really doesn't make any difference whom, exactly, is to blame for the airstrike. In the minds of most Afghans, "they are all infidels, they're all outsiders and they're all suspect, and so it really doesn't make any difference."
Above: Rahmatullah, 19, a victim of Friday's NATO airstrike, tries to sit up on his bed in a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 5, 2009.
"We have a terrible tragedy on two levels," Van Dyk told CBS Radio News. "One, so many people were killed. Secondly, it's a coup for the Taliban. It's a black mark for NATO and its allies."
Van Dyk said the deadly airstrike couldn't have come at worse time for American military strategists.
5290143The newly-installed top commander in Afghanistan, American Gen. Stanley McChrystal (seen at far left in this photo touring scene of airstrike), was just getting started on his revamped mission to win public opinion — a "completely different job to previous commanders," according to Van Dyk.
"American military commanders have said they have to now start from scratch. They have to start all over. They have to change their tactics entirely if they are going to win this war," said Van Dyk.
In Van Dyk's mind, McChrystal had been "doing an excellent job trying to convey to the Afghan people that the United States is not there as an occupying force, it is there to help the people. He has no choice; he must absolutely act this way."
McChrystal, commander of all U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, visited the scene of the airstrike himself quickly after the incident. That was not only a good move, in Van Dyk's opinion, it was the "best thing he could have done" — to show up and very publically apologize for what happened and stress that measures would be taken to prevent it happening again.
"This has never been done in the eight years the United States and its allies have been in Afghanistan," said Van Dyk.
Click below to see Jere Van Dyk interviewed on McChrystal's role:
Van Dyk explained that most Afghan villagers, despite their relatively low level of technological infrastructure, are incredibly tuned-in to current events and politics thanks to ubiquitous battery operated radios. They get the messages — both the Taliban's and McChrystal's.
On Friday, just hours after the airstrike, CBS News' Khaled Wassef found a message posted on the Taliban's primary propaganda Web site claiming the Americans had deliberately struck the civilians around the tankers out of "anger and hopelessness" over their "elections farce."
The statement referred to the recent Afghan national elections to determine a new president. A long-stated military objective of the U.S. and its allies was to reduce the Taliban threat in Afghan towns and cities enough to convince people to come out and vote in the face of the militant group's threats.
"The invading enemy aircrafts bombarded civilian people near the bazaar of Ali Abad district in Kunduz province, killing 90 civilians including women and children," said the Taliban statement.
The militant group extended its "deepest sympathy" to the victims, assuring them that it was "sharing their pain and grief and prays to the Almighty God to save this miserable nation from further tragedies."
That message will have reached the Afghan people a day before McChrystal visited the site of the airstrike.
"What the United States has to do, regardless of who fired the weapons, is to show that they're sorry, that they care," said Van Dyk, "because every time you kill anybody on the ground - every cousin, every brother, every uncle, every father is now fodder for the Taliban."