Afghanistan

After a US airstrike in October destroyed an MSF hospital in Kunduz—the only trauma center like it in the country’s north—Afghans like Burhanuddin now have to travel 200 miles to receive life-saving treatment. The journey takes hours, sometimes days by car.

The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition supports MSF's request for the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission to investigate the attack on its hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, that resulted in the deaths of patients and staff. The Commission was created under the Additional Protocols of the Geneva Conventions specifically to investigate alleged violations of international humanitarian law and report on findings.

KABUL, Afghanistan — A crowded hospital in the embattled city of Kunduz that treats war wounded came under attack on Saturday and the American military acknowledged that it may have killed 19 patients, staff members and others at the facility while firing on insurgents nearby. The attack, which the military said in a statement might have been “collateral damage” that occurred while engaging militants, drew a fierce international outcry. The head of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, condemned it and called for a “thorough and impartial investigation.” It also renewed scrutiny of the United States military’s record of causing civilian casualties, which has alienated the Afghan public and often undermined relations with the government here.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) nurse Lajos Zoltan Jecs was in Kunduz trauma hospital when the facility was struck by a series of aerial bombing raids in the early hours of Saturday morning. He describes his experience:

Heavy fighting between government militia and the Taliban in Northern Afghanistan has increased demand for doctors—and death threats.