Obama offers bombing apology

Doctors group says airstrike may be war crime

President Obama called Doctors Without Borders to apologize for the U. S. bombing of its hospital in Afghanistan and promised changes to procedures if necessary, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday.

The apology came hours after the medical aid group called for an independent investigation of the attack under the terms of the Geneva Conventions. Doctors Without Borders has condemned the airstrike on the hospital in Kunduz as a possible “war crime.”

Earnest disputed such claims, saying there is no evidence “that this was anything other than a terrible, tragic mistake.”

At least 22 people were killed in Saturday’s airstrike during fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban, which took control of the city for three days last week.

Obama told Doctors Without Borders that a Pentagon investigation would “provide a transparent, thorough and objective accounting of the facts and circumstances of the incident,” Earnest said.

A statement from Joanne Liu, Doctors Without Borders’ international president, reiterated the organization’s request “that the U. S. government consent to an independent investigation led by the International Humanitarian FactFinding Commission to establish what happened in Kunduz, how it happened and why it happened.”

Earlier Wednesday, Liu said the strike “was not just an attack on our hospital, it was an attack on the Geneva Conventions. This cannot be tolerated.” The group said its call for an independent fact- finding mission would mark the first time such a probe would be commissioned under the conventions, which spell out the rules for international warfare.

“The U. S. attack on the hospital in Kunduz was the biggest loss of life for our organization in an airstrike,” Liu said in her statement. “Tens of thousands of people in Kunduz can no longer receive medical care now when they need it most. Today we say: Enough. Even war has rules.”

Obama also called Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to discuss the incident and pledged to keep working closely with his government, Earnest said.