Obama apologises to MSF for Afghanistan bombing that killed 22

“We reiterate our [request] that the USA government consent to an independent investigation led by the worldwide Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission to establish what happened in Kunduz, how it happened and why it happened”, she said.

The USA military has already vowed to conduct an investigation and says the airstrike was a mistake.

But in this case, there was a mistake, and it’s one that the United States owns up to.

Pending activation by signatory states, the Commission inquiry will gather facts and evidence from the US, NATO, and Afghanistan, as well as testimony from surviving MSF staff and patients.

US President Barack Obama has apologized to Doctors Without Borders for an air strike that hit the organization’s clinic in Afghanistan. The attack came from a US AC-130 gunship, which repeatedly targeted the MSF hospital.

Earnest said that by Wednesday morning, when the president made the call from the Oval Office to Dr. Joanne Liu, Obama had decided “that he had learned enough about this matter to conclude that it was appropriate for him to offer an apology”.

Pentagon officials have given conflicting explanations for how the hospital was bombed Saturday, including both that the bombing was ordered to protect US troops and that Afghan forces under fire requested the strike.

Meanwhile, Guilhem Molinie, MSF’s Afghanistan representative, said during a press conference in Kabul on Thursday that more bodies could be found inside the hospital.

“We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility”, Campbell told senators.

“If we let this go, as if [this] was a non-event, we are basically giving a blank cheque to any countries who are at war”, Liu said in a news briefing quoted by Al Jazeera.

The administration pledged the investigation would be as thorough and transparent as possible, and would hold people accountable if needed.

Helen Durham, director of global law and policy at the worldwide Committee of the Red Cross, said the commission could help “clarify the facts surrounding this tragic incident” and said that investigation could complement separate ones by the US, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and Afghanistan.

Hungry, thirsty and war-wounded residents, slowly emerging from their houses Wednesday after days of pitched street battles in the northern city, complained that Kunduz lacked essential medical support.