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HuffingtonPost.com, August 6, 2010

NATO Forces in Afghanistan Can’t Deny They Killed Civilians in Sangin Anymore

U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan killed dozens of people in the Sangin District of Helmand Province on July 23

Derrick Crowe, Political Director, Brave New Foundation

Exclusive, on-the-ground interviews obtained by Brave New Foundation's Rethink Afghanistan project confirm what NATO forces repeatedly denied: U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan killed dozens of people in the Sangin District of Helmand Province on July 23.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office first acknowledged the incident when they condemned the killings on July 26. At that time, the Afghan National Directorate of Security claimed that the American-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) killed "52 civilians...including women and children" in a "rocket attack." (The Kabul government later revised that tally to 39.) By Sunday, August 1, there were protests in the streets of Kabul.

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ISAF immediately attacked the credibility of the Afghan government's report, complaining bitterly of Karzai's decision to condemn the incident without conferring with U.S. and allied forces.

Working with our team in Afghanistan led by Anita Sreedhar, Brave New Foundation's Rethink Afghanistan campaign sent an intrepid local blogger into Sangin--one of Afghanistan's most volatile areas--to get the truth. The video interviews he obtained are incredible and horrifying. We made the full interview transcripts available online at http://rethinkafghanistan.com, and we encourage you to read them. Here's the short version: Every survivor our interviewer talked to confirmed that a massive civilian casualty event occurred, and that NATO was responsible.

NATO vs. the Kabul Government

ISAF began their push-back against p