Pentagon to Discipline 16 for Doctors Without Borders Airstrike

WASHINGTON, DC — The Pentagon will discipline 16 service members, including a two-star general, over an October airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders trauma center in Kunduz, Afghanistan, Gen. Joseph L. Votel told reporters Friday.

The severity of the punishments ranged from severe to a proverbial slap on the wrist. Only one officer was suspended from command. Six of the service members were given counseling, seven were issued a letter of reprimand and two had to be retrained.

The Pentagon's decision comes after a six-month investigation into the attack in which 42 people were killed and dozens were wounded. Victims included trauma center staff, patients and other Afghans in the area of the hospital. An official announcement from the Pentagon was made Friday, April 29.

"The investigation ultimately concluded that the tragic incident was caused by a combination of human errors, compounded by process and equipment failures," said Gen. Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command.

The investigation also found that during the attack members of the ground force and AC-130 gunship crew did not know they were bombarding a medical facility, Votel said.

The attack was condemned by Doctors Without Borders in its own internal review.

"The view from inside the hospital is that this attack was conducted with a purpose to kill and destroy," said Christopher Stokes, MSF general director. "But we don’t know why. We neither have the view from the cockpit, nor the knowledge of what happened within the US and Afghan military chains of command."

More than 376 patients had been treated in the trauma center's emergency room since fighting between Taliban forces and the U.S. Military broke out in September 2015, said Doctors Without Borders. The humanitarian organization also said it had informed the US Department of Defense, Afghan Ministry of Interior and Defense, and US Army in Kabul of the hospital's GPS coordinates as late as September 29, just days before the bombing.

"The attack destroyed our ability to treat patients at a time of their greatest need," said Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of MSF, in a November news release. "A functioning hospital caring for patients cannot simply lose its protected status and be attacked."

[Photo credit: David B. Gleason]