US AIRSTRIKES POTENTIALLY KILLED OVER 40,000 CIVILIANS SINCE 9/11, SAYS REPORT

Sat 11 September 2021:

At least 22,000 civilians— and potentially over 40,000 civilians—have been killed by US-led drone and airstrikes across West Asia and Africa since the 9/11 terror attacks, according to an analysis done by UK-based monitoring group, Airwars.

Basing its findings on the declaration made by the US that it launched at least 91,340 strikes across seven major conflict zones, including Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and Libya, the London-based group sought to find the number of civilian casualties linked to the ‘forever wars’, spanning two decades of conflict which formally ended on August 31 with the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

Based on that total, Airwars concluded “US actions likely killed at least 22,679 civilians, with that number potentially as high as 48,308”.

According to research compiled by Airwars, the deadliest year in the past two decades for civilian victims of US airstrikes was 2003 when a minimum of 5,529 civilians were reported to have been killed, almost all during the invasion of Iraq that year.

The next deadliest year was 2017 when at least 4,931 civilians were likely killed, the vast majority in coalition bombing of Iraq and Syria.

Since taking the office, Joe Biden—the fourth to manage the “forever wars” after his predecessors George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump—promised to reduce US reliance on airstrikes amid a formal review of the government’s drone policy.

“The threat from terrorism continues, but it’s changed. Our strategy needs to change too,” Biden said, vowing action against the Daesh branch in Afghanistan (Daesh-K) after the group claimed responsibility for the August 26 attack at Kabul airport that killed over 160 Afghan civilians and 13 US service members.

The US military has not provided the official estimates of civilian deaths nor have they published such findings. Airwaves cited its data from sources like the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, The Iraq Body Count NGO and The Nation.

(With inputs from agencies)

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