President Barack Obama apologized to Doctors Without Borders Wednesday for the deadly U.S. airstrike that killed the agency’s staff and patients in Afghanistan. The emergency aid organization is calling for an independent investigation into the attack. Washington bureau reporter Geoff Bennett filed the following report.
A presidential apology was issued Wednesday for a deadly U.S. airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan that killed at least 22 people.
"This morning, from the Oval Office, President Obama spoke by telephone with Doctors Without Borders International President Dr. Joanne Liu, to apologize and express his condolences for the MSF staff and patients who were killed and injured when a U.S. military airstrike mistakenly struck an MSF field hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan over the weekend," said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
Saturday's airstrike killed 12 medical staff members and at least seven patients, including three children. Doctors Without Borders says another 37 people were wounded.
The aid organization calls the bombing a "war crime." During a Wednesday news conference in New York, the group pushed for an independent, international investigation into the deadly attack.
"Today, we say enough. Even war has rules," said Jason Cone, U.S. executive director of Doctors Without Borders.
Meanwhile, three other investigations are currently underway, including one led by the Department of Defense. On Tuesday, at the Capitol, General John F. Campbell, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, appeared before a Senate committee, admitting the bombing was a mistake.
"The hospital was mistakenly struck," Campbell said. "We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility."
Both the Pentagon and the White House are now offering assurances that extraordinary efforts are being made to protect civilians.
"The United States, when we make a mistake, we’re honest about it, we own up to it, we apologize where necessary, as the president did in this case, and we implement the kinds of changes that make it less likely that those kinds of mistakes will occur in the future," Earnest said.