Killing kids reveals nature of warmonger

A day before the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, it launched a drone attack on a residential area in Kabul, killing a family of 10, seven of them children, two of whom were just 2 years old.

The drone strike was in response to the suicide attack at Kabul airport on Aug 26 in which at least 170 people, including 13 US soldiers, were killed.

A report in The New York Times quoted US officials as saying they launched the strike after analyzing drone footage that showed a man keeping heavy containers in his car, which they assumed to be explosives meant to be used against the US troops. The US might have mistaken an aid worker for a suicide bomber.

The US never tires of calling itself a defender of “human rights”, and sends its troops to launch strikes in every corner of the world apparently to protect human rights. But it does not care two hoots about the lives of non-Americans, let alone their rights.

Of the 248 armed conflicts in the world between 1945 and 2001, 201 were launched by the US.

It would not be wrong to call the US — which has caused deaths and destruction in many parts of the world ostensibly to keeps its shores safe — a “warmonger”.

It has not remained unscathed, however. One-third of its Afghanistan and Iraq veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, while between 2008 and 2016, on average 6,000 have committed suicide every year. The only ones who seem unperturbed are the US politicians and arms dealers.

On Wednesday, a cartoon showing the funeral of the family that was bombed by the US troops in Kabul went viral. It showed 10 coffins, three big and seven small, placed in a row and a sign saying: “I am only 2 years old. I am not a terrorist.”

The US’ credibility too got buried with those victims, and there is no chance of its resurrection unless it regains its long-lost conscience.