$50G a body
U.S. doles blood money to Afghan kin
THE U.S. military paid out $50,000 in compensation for each of the 17 Afghan villagers slain by a deranged American soldier — a king’s ransom in a land where the average income is $426 a year.
Afghan officials said families of the dead were given $50,000 for each corpse and $11,000 for the six wounded. Most of the dead and wounded in the March 11 rampage were children. In total, the U.S. shelled out about $916,000.
The unusually large payouts were a bid to mend relations with the Afghan people after the killings imperiled already tense relations.
In Afghan tradition, “blood money” is paid to the deceased’s relatives as repayment for a murder and to end enmity between the two families.
Kandahar provincial council member Haji Agha Lali Dastageri told Voice of America Sunday that the money was paid a day earlier at a private ceremony in the governor’s office. They were told that the money came from President Obama, Lali said.
He said the victims’ families asked that that media not be present for the ceremony, fearing they could be targeted by the Taliban militants who threaten any- one who receives money from the United States.
U.S. officials confirmed compensation had been paid but would not discuss the amounts.
Such payments are usually kept quiet, but in 2010, U.S. troops in Helmand province said the standard was $1,500 to $2,000 for a civilian killed in a military operation and $600 to $1,500 for a serious injury.
The average compensation for a disabled U.S. veteran is $28,352 a year, according to a study by the think tank CNA.
On Friday, Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder.
Bales, an 11-year military veteran on his fourth combat tour, allegedly left his southern Afghanistan military post at 3 a.m. and shot civil- ians in their beds as they slept in two villages.
Military investigators now believe Bales made two separate trips, returning to base between attacks, a U.S. official told CNN Sunday.