Defense Department Report: Afghanistan Operations

(Humanitarian aid, Afghan national army, Hazar Qadam raid) (550)

GENERAL FRANKS HIGHLIGHTS MILITARY HOSPITAL CARE OF CIVILIANS

Nearly 20,000 Afghan civilians have received medical care from
military hospitals set up by U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan,
General Tommy Franks said February 25.

At a press conference in Tampa, Florida, where U.S. Central Command is
located, General Franks introduced two coalition military officers who
gave details on field hospitals that their governments have
established in Afghanistan. Jordanian Lieutenant Colonel Yousef
al-Hnaity said Jordan opened a field hospital near Mazar-I Sharif on
January 8 that has so far treated 18,000 civilian Afghan patients,
including 12,000 women and children. The facility has 200 personnel,
including 27 doctors, 45 nurses and 45 medics, Hnaity said.

Spanish Brigadier General Fernando LaFuente said his country's
hospital was established on February 10 in Bagram. He said the
hospital treats 100 to 120 civilian patients daily. The most common
problems are dental, LaFuente said, followed by ailments associated
with cold weather. They have established two separate facilities, one
just for women, staffed entirely by women doctors and nurses, he said.
The facility is able to provide medicines not just for the visit
itself, LaFuente said, but for two or three weeks at a time.

SURVEY TEAM ON AFGHAN NATIONAL ARMY TO RETURN TO U.S. SOON

General Franks announced that a survey team sent to Afghanistan to
consider how to establish a national Afghan army will arrive in Tampa
on February 26.

Franks said the United States is certain that a national army is
needed for Afghanistan to replace the current, traditional situation
of numerous tribal and ethnic forces not under central government
control. But the composition and size of such an army are questions
the survey team was sent to explore, Franks said. He added that the
United States would like to improve the security situation in
Afghanistan by having Afghans provide for their own security, but that
he would wait for the report, which he would then forward to Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, to determine how best to go about it.

FRANKS REFUTES CHARGE OF INTELLIGENCE FAILURE IN HAZAR QADAM RAID

Franks said he would not characterize the Hazar Qadam raid, in which
16 Afghans were killed, as an "intelligence failure." Nor would he say
that U.S. forces involved were "trigger-happy."

The compounds were studied closely over a period of time, but a
decision was made to send in ground forces instead of calling in air
strikes because U.S. military personnel were not absolutely certain of
the situation on the ground, he said. The two compounds were breached
nearly simultaneously, and in one of them there was no initial firing.
More than 20 persons were detained at this compound, he said, but then
U.S. troops were fired on by two individuals, and return fire killed
them both, Franks said.

At the other compound, U.S. troops were fired on by multiple sources,
and killed 14 in returning fire, he said.

"The one mistake that I know was made was when people shot at American
forces doing their job on the ground in Afghanistan," Franks said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)