Washington: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the Pentagon officials on Thursday to conduct reforms to reduce the number of civil deaths from military attacks after several fatal incidents that cannot be justified.
“The protection of civilians is fundamentally consistent with the use of effective strength, efficient, and firm in pursuing US national interests,” said Austin in the direction issued for the leadership of the Department of Defense.
“This is a strategic and moral necessity,” he said.
Austin gave a 90-day Pentagon official to produce plans for how civilians can be reduced and avoided in combat operations, by saying experience in Afghanistan and Iraq provide the opportunity to learn lessons and reduce civil losses in institutional ways.
The move occurred after several incidents placed dark clouds on the Pentagon, last time killing 10 people, including seven children, in the attack of Drone Kabul in August 2021 during the last days of US attendance in Afghanistan.
Likewise, the US military was embarrassed by reporting by the New York Times which showed the bombing in March 2019 which was managed poorly which killed around 70 civilians in the last days of war against the Islamic group.
The military avoided investigations and accountability in the incident, said The Times.
Austin order came after the study of the causes of civil death and reporting by Rand Corp, which was assigned by the Pentagon, painted an uninteresting picture of the US military process to deal with the incident.
It is said that in the planning of strikes, the military is too focused on the enemy that it ignores a wider civil description – a problem that can cause casualties that can be avoided.
And it was said that the military was not adequately and consistently investigated and recorded the incidence of civil death, and did not have a central database that would allow research that could cause solutions.
“Rarely done investigation,” said Michael Mcneyney, one of the Rand Report writers.
Furthermore, data management on the incident, he said, is “hot chaos.” Rand recommends the Pentagon set “Center of Advantages” with full-time dedicated personnel for civil loss problems and strengthen data collection and analysis.
Rand also called for reviews about how the military offered the condolences of “Ex Gratia” for non-combatant families who were killed as a result of US attacks.
McNerney said that payment was inconsistent, with some field commanders offering them and others did not, and they were often used for civil death in Afghanistan but rarely in Iraq.
The Department of Defense “really needs to explain this payment goals more clearly,” he said.
“Are they just relevant to help us force and support the commander on the ground, because some in Afghanistan use it?” He asked.
“Or should the US use this payment as a hazard recognition and as a tool of accountability, because it is the right thing to do?”