Afghanistan

Jason Motlagh has been reporting from Afghanistan for several months, first embedding with U.S. troops and more recently looking at the other side of the conflict -- the growing numbers of civilian casualties. Over webcam from Kabul, Motlagh tells iWitness what happened when a recent U.S. airstrike hit a village in the province of Herat, killing scores of civilians. Sharing dramatic footage and images in the wake of the bombings and interviewing victims and U.S. military, Motlagh reports conflicting accounts of what took place.

A handful of survivors from the latest deadly US airstrike in western Afghanistan recover in Herat hospital's new burn ward, the best in the country.

See related blog post at Untold Stories

Photos and text by Jason Motlagh / Pulitzer Center

Whether by force, by chance, or mistaken choice, there are sundry ways Afghans find themselves in harm's way. Some deaths make the news, but many more -- particularly in Taliban strongholds -- go to the ground unreported, known only to those closest to the victims, should they be survived.

Herewith, a sampling of coalition press releases on documented civilian casualties over the course of one month in the war:

One Afghan killed, one wounded in convoy incident



There are large-scale civilian deaths in Afghanistan that make headlines, and then there are the small incidents that are barely noticed at all. That was the fate of 12-year-old Benafsha Shaheem.

The morning after the deadly U.S. air strike in western Afghanistan earlier this month, Homayoun Farahi received a phone call from his father. Two of his uncles were killed.

Jason Motlagh, for the Pulitzer Center

There are large-scale civilian deaths that make headlines; and then there are small but regular incidents in Afghanistan that may or may not get a mention. This was the fate of 12-year-old Benafsha Shaheem.

Some locals jokingly call Herat the "Dubai of Afghanistan." The nickname is a stretch, but the mini-boom taking place in this commercial capital is borne out by 24-hour electricity and pothole-free streets where people wander without fear of the random violence that afflicts other urban centers in the country. Who gets the credit? Much of it goes to Iran, which lies less than a hundred miles to the west and is moving closer.

The US military said yesterday that only 20-35 civilians were killed in airstrikes in western Afghanistan earlier this month, disputing the claims of the Afghan government.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The civilian death toll from the U.S. bombardment in western Afghanistan is about a third less than the Afghan government claims, the country's leading human rights organization said Sunday, adding that no evidence of white phosphorus was found.

A weeklong investigation by a team from the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has concluded that between 90 and 100 people died as a result of the May 4-5 military operation in Farah province, director Ahmad Nader Nadery told The Washington Times.

Jason Motlagh, for the Pulitzer Center

HERAT, Afghanistan- Afghans who lost family members in a U.S. bombardment last week say Taliban militants fled hours before the U.S. attack -- an account that contrasts with Pentagon claims about an incident that has come to encapsulate an uphill battle for Afghan hearts and minds.

Haji Sayed Barakat, who lost two children and his wife of 35 years in the May 4 attack, said Taliban militants were present in the area but had moved on two hours before the U.S. air strikes.

"We found a great journalist. We've been trying to find as many people as we can to talk about the situation in Afghanistan, and my guest now is a roving freelance multimedia journalist. He has reported from over 30 countries throughout West Africa, the Mideast, Central and South Asia for leading U.S. and international media outlets. And a series of recent multimedia projects undertaken with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting have explored conflicts with India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.