Death toll continues to rise in Afghanistan

The Pentagon killed many civilians in an air raid it conducted in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan at the end of June. The U.S. and NATO estimated that 45 civilians were killed. The Associated Press and the Afghan governor in Helmand estimated 130.

Helmand in the best of circumstances is a difficult, inaccessible place to travel. With a brutal war going on, it is extremely dangerous. So it is unlikely that independent journalists are going to be able to investigate the incident and come up with a verified estimate.

Helmand, in southwest Afghanistan, borders both Iran and Pakistan. It is the richest producer of opium in the country.

Since the first of the year, according to the AP and Afghanistan Human Rights Watch, about 500 people have been killed by U.S. air raids. This has stoked the anger of the Afghan people.

NATO held a two-day conference July 1 and 2 in Rome, with some major imperialist players, to discuss how to strengthen their hold on Afghanistan. At the conference U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad—who served as an advisor to the giant oil company Unocal while the Taliban was the government in Afghanistan—said it was “unfortunate” that civilians have been caught up in the NATO-led military operation in Afghanistan.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, titular Afghan President Hamid Karzai who is another former Unocal advisor, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema also spoke on how to strengthen the current puppet government appointed during the U.S.-led occupation of Afghanistan.

Afghan anger is fueled by the brutal actions of U.S. soldiers, who break into homes and arrest young men, rough them up and needlessly destroy personal property.

The July 6 Los Angeles Times described an incident that captures this attitude. After a late June suicide bombing on the outskirts of Kabul that targeted a U.S. military convoy and killed two Western security officers—most likely contract mercenaries—Afghan police anxiously waved journalists away.

“Don’t go close,” they warned. “The Americans might shoot you.”