Susanne Baltazar
Professor Rollins
Rhetoric and Composition II
November 21, 2015

Was Kunduz a War Crime?

In the early hours of October 3, 2015, an Afghan hospital, run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Kunduz, Afghanistan was repeatedly attacked, bombed and obliterated by an American airship which left 30 people dead, including 13 MSF staff. In their Internal Report, MSF has stated that the attack was not only premeditated but targeted. Per their protocol, they were weapons free and were in constant contact with Afghan and U.S. military groups and had recently sent the GPS coordinates as to their location. Communications prior to the airstrike were that all was calm within the hospital compound. Yet the U.S. Airship that bombed the hospital believed it was a Taliban headquarters and was being used as a human shield. How could there be such a miscommunication? MSF believes that the air strikes were an aggressive violation of the International Humanitarian Laws and the Geneva Conventions. To date there are ongoing NATO, US Military and Afghan Military investigations. MSF ultimately claims this was a war crime committed by the United States of America, and is asking President Obama for an independent impartial investigation conducted by the International Humanitarian Fact Finding Commission. Who is Medecins Sans Frontieres and what were they doing in Kunduz, Afghanistan? Why was there fighting going on between the Afghan Army and the Taliban? And, what role does the United States Military play in this horrible incident? These are the questions I wish to explore to help determine, was Kunduz, as MSF claims, a war crime?

MSF is a French Independent International Humanitarian Organization providing medical care for all people in times of conflict or war, be it soldiers or civilians. They