Tarok Kolache

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tarok Kolache
Tarok Kolache (Afghanistan)
Red pog.svg
Coordinates 31 ° 42 ′  N , 65 ° 40 ′  E Coordinates: 31 ° 42 ′  N , 65 ° 40 ′  E
Basic data
Country Afghanistan

province

Kandahar
ISO 3166-2 AF-KAN

Tarok Kolache is or was a village in the Arghandāb valley near Kandahar ( Afghanistan ). On October 6, 2010, it was completely destroyed by an attack by US forces .

Fighting

At the beginning of October 2010 the village was occupied by Taliban fighters. The United States Army's Combined Joint Task Force 1-320th tried twice in vain to drive the Taliban out of the village by fighting on the ground. There were losses on both sides. Several US soldiers lost limbs to improvised booby traps . Commander Lieutenant Colonel David Flynn thought the situation was too risky for a third attack and the morale of his soldiers, who had already been involved in costly combat a week earlier, was no longer sufficient. He then requested assistance on October 6th. With a total of around 25 tons of bombs and surface-to-surface missiles , the village was completely destroyed. Attacks of this kind were last made by US forces in the Vietnam War . According to the US Army, there were no civilian casualties. The villagers had previously been driven out by the Taliban.

reconstruction

Preparations to rebuild the village began that same month. One of the main problems with this is that many Afghans are unable to provide evidence of their destroyed property and do not pay any taxes from which they could be inferred. The estimated cost is approximately $ 10,000 per person and $ 1 million overall.

Reactions

Among other things, the US magazine Wired reported on the incidents and doubted the reliability of the statement that there were no civilian victims. The troops had not enlightened in the village and therefore could not have known whether there were still civilians there or not.

During his visit in December of that year, General David Petraeus praised Flynn's achievements and considered other similar operations on a larger scale. Flynn took the view that the course of events had led the population to talk more to the US troops and the government because they received support from them and not from the Taliban (“ As of today, more of the local population talks to us and the government than talk to the Taliban, who provide no services to the people ”). The spokesman for General Petraeus justified the destruction and stated that the village was "saturated" with booby traps. Relatives of potential victims were offered compensation. To the best of his knowledge, no one reported.

In January 2011, the village of Tarok Kolache was the subject of a written request from Christian Ströbele to the federal government. The response was largely shared by the US Forces.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Written question: Air raid on Tarok Kolache at stroebele-online.de

Web links