NATO in Afghanistan till 2015 (merged thread)

[carl]

Here is link to a news story about 2 American helicopters killing 9 of 10 Afghan boys out collecting firewood.

http://www.statesman.com/news/world/...type=ynews_rss

The survivor, aged 11, said this.

We were almost done collecting the wood when suddenly we saw the helicopters come," said Hemad, who, like many Afghans, has only one name. "There were two of them. The helicopters hovered over us, scanned us and we saw a green flash from the helicopters. Then they flew back high up, and in a second round they hovered over us and started shooting. They fired a rocket that landed on a tree. The tree branches fell over me, and shrapnel hit my right hand and my side.

This is a very terrible and tragic thing for everybody. Given the boy's description of the event, I don't understand how the helo crews could have made such a mistake. If somebody who is knowledgeable about attack helo ops could give some info on how this could have happened it would be helpful.

This is event is a nightmare.