EDITORIAL: U.S. accused of ‘war crime’ after alleged bombing

A hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in Kunduz, Afghanistan fell under airstrike early Saturday morning. Doctors Without Borders is an international humanitarian-aid organization known for providing medical care in war-torn and developing countries. The airstrikes led to 22 casualties including staff members, patients and children. Early reports indicate that the airstrikes were carried out by the United States to help Afghan forces regain control of the area, which had been lost to Taliban forces..

To make matters worse, according to a NBC News article from yesterday titled “Doctors Without Borders Hospital Bombing: Witnesses Recount Strikes,” it was the only hospital in Kunduz. “Doctors Without Borders issued a statement Sunday expressing its ‘clear assumption that a war crime has been committed,’” according to a Chicago Tribune article from Sunday titled “Doctors Without Borders leaves Afghan city over airstrike, alleges war crime.”

Another report claims that the reason behind the airstrikes are that Taliban forces were shooting from the hospital, which officials from Doctors Without Borders say is false. Regardless of the reason, it’s unacceptable to target a hospital. A hospital is intended to be a neutral space intended for healing the wounded on either side of a conflict. The idea that certain people and places should be immune to being injured and/or killed goes back to 1582 from an opinion of a Spanish judge. But more recently, The Geneva Convention of 1949 established immunity for civilians, hospitals and medical staff.

While civilian casualties occur in a war, the intentional targeting of a hospital, as current news outlets suggest happened, is not only wrong but also an international war crime. No matter the reasoning, the United States as a world leader should not be breaking this cardinal rule of warfare.