Doctors without Borders called for an independent fact-finding mission to investigate a U.S. airstrike on a hospital in Afghanistan that killed at least 22 people, according to a report on the New York Times. The group believes that the airstrike in Kunduz may have been a war crime and has appealed to the U.S., Afghanistan and other countries to call up a commission to look into the tragedy.
MSF international President Joanne Liu called for an independent investigation of the facts and circumstances of the attack because she believes there are inconsistencies in the U.S. and Afghan accounts of the tragedy. The MSF wants the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission to spearhead the investigation. "We cannot solely rely on the internal military investigations by the U.S., NATO and Afghan forces," she said.
The commission was created after the Gulf War in 1991, and this will be first incident where they need to deploy a fact-finding mission. It requires a request by one of the 76 nations that have signed on to it for it to begin its work. Its job is to investigate whether international humanitarian law has been violated. The commission is made up of diplomats, legal experts, doctors and at least three former military officials from nine European countries, including Britain and Russia.
Liu believes that the airstrike was not just an attack on the hospital, but was also an attack on the Geneva Conventions. She firmly stated that this incident must not be tolerated. The U.S. airstrikes have destroyed many homes, and took the lives of 12 medical staffs and at least 10 patients. The hospital in that area which was targeted was the primary medical facility in the region. MSF and other aid groups were forced to suspend their operations there while they are waiting for the investigation to be made by the IHFFC to ensure safety to the caregivers.
On Wednesday morning, President Obama called and apologized directly to Liu. The Doctors Without Borders chief acknowledged the U.S President's apology, although she still wants him to allow an international investigation on the matter.
