The Afghan Airstrike That Won't Go Away
U.S. Team to Reinvestigate Deadly Strike In Afghanistan
By Candace Rondeaux and Karen DeYoung Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, September 9, 2008; A01
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 8 -- The U.S. Central Command will send a senior team, headed by a general and including a legal affairs officer, to reinvestigate a U.S. air attack last month that U.N. and Afghan officials say killed 90 civilians, amid mounting public outrage in Afghanistan and evidence that conflicts with the military's initial version of events.
The U.S. decision to again probe the Aug. 21 attack in Azizabad, near the western city of Herat, came at the urging of Gen. David D. McKiernan, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan. McKiernan said he was prompted by "emerging evidence" that threw into question the finding of a U.S. investigation that five to seven civilians died. McKiernan had earlier said he concurred with that finding.
. . . Underlying the dispute over civilian casualties are a lack of communication, a di…