The USAF operated outside standard airstrike procedures when attacking Afghanistan in a stream of May 2009 bombing raids, according to information delivered by the Pentagon on June 8th 2009. The airstrikes resulted in a large number of civilian fatalities - 140 of them, according to the Afghan government.

"There were some problems with tactics, techniques and procedures, the way in which close air support was supposed to have been executed in this case", Geoff Morrell, press secretary, advised representatives of the media.

United States Air Force Bombing Raids

The United States Air Force bombing raids in question took place on May 4th and targeted areas in the province of Farah. They occurred in response to initial militant attacks carried out on security checkpoints.

Mr Morrell's statement followed an investigation by the US military into exactly what went wrong that day. What it discovered was that one particular aircraft - a USAF Rockwell B-1b Lancer intercontinental bomber - suffered a momentary loss of contact with the target it was aiming for.

"That plane, because of how it takes its bombing routes, had to break away from positive identification of their target at one point to make its elongated approach", Morrell explained.

Afghan Civilian Casualties

He stressed, however, that no concrete conclusion had been drawn up linking the B-1b's actions with the Afghan civilian casualties. "It was just noted as one of the problems associated with these events, not that it was the cause of the civilian casualties", Morrell emphasised, adding that the assessment has been "exhaustive", and that this illustrated that "the guys on the ground who are involved in this incident took great pains to limit civilian casualties, to target those who had attacked them."

In contrast to the 140 civilians figure quoted by Afghanistan, the US military reported that up to 30 non-military personnel had died, together with up to 65 militants.

This keynote Washington press statement represented the US military's most transparent declaration to date over an incident which Afghanistan itself responded angrily to. The issue of civilian deaths remains a tense one between allied forces and Afghanistan.

Earlier this month, Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal - head of allied forces in Afghanistan - highlighted the prospect of the conflict in Afghanistan ending in the insurgents' favour unless the number of civilians losing their lives could be reined in.