Condolence payments to Afghans total millions - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Condolence payments to Afghans total millions

One week after 15 civilians were killed during a U.S. night operation at an Afghan village in 2009, U.S. commanders went to the village and passed out $40,000 in cash “condolence” payments.

Victims’ relatives in the village were paid $2,500 for each death, $500 for two wounded men and $1,500 for village repairs.

U.S officials distributed $688,000 in condolence and $6.8 million in battle repair funds in Afghanistan in the first half of fiscal 2011, according to the Pentagon. Since 2005, U.S. forces have paid civilians millions of dollars in payments for collateral damage caused by — or blamed on — American forces in Afghanistan.

According to the Government Accountability Office, the Defense Department spent more than $30 million in Iraq and Afghanistan in condolence and compensation for grief payments in 2003-06, mostly in Iraq.

In one case, cited by The Washington Post based on documents obtained through the Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. paid out $190,278 on “condolences” in Uwayrij, Iraq.

The payments are a gesture of sympathy and remorse in cases ranging from traffic accidents to lost limbs to death.

Despite the amount of money spent, the practice is not well-publicized.

From January to October 2011, civilian casualties inflicted by the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan numbered more than 500, according to ISAF’s Civilian Casualty Database.

The command declined to say how many were paid for their injuries.

As part of this program, funded mostly by the Defense Department, these funds, known as “condolence” and “solatia” — compensation for grief — payments, are a “strategic issue” and are briefed to ISAF commander Marine Gen. John Allen, officials at the ISAF Joint Command in Kabul wrote in an email.

What the handbook says

Although ISAF declined to release payment scales, a handbook from U.S. Forces-Afghanistan called “Money As a Weapon System — Afghanistan,” dated February 2011 and published on the website www.publicintelligence.net, outlines the practice and the procedures for payment.

The payments, according to the handbook, are per person and/or per damaged property.

For example, two members of the same family are killed in a car accident when the car is hit by U.S. forces. According to the handbook:

• “An O-5 U.S. Commander can approve up to $2.5K per person or damaged property.”

• “An O-6 U.S. Commander (or CSTC-A Commander) can approve up to $5K per person or damaged property.”

• “In extraordinary circumstances, a unit can pay up to $10K per person or damaged property, but it must be approved by the first U.S. General Officer in the chain of command and cannot be delegated.”

Thus, if two members of the same family are killed in a car accident when the car is hit by U.S. forces, the head of that household could receive a maximum of $10,000 for each death and $2,500 for the damage to the vehicle.

• Condolence/Battle Damage payments for Afghan National Army (ANA)/Afghan National Police (ANP) caused damage may be approved on a case-by-case basis by the [Deputy Commander-Support, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan] up to the total dollar amount of damage caused.”

An average income of a person in Afghanistan is about $370, according to UNICEF figures for 2009.

“The safety of the population is paramount to the mission in Afghanistan, and ISAF believes it should not be hindering this effort through our own actions,” Maj. Rob Carr, a civilian casualty operations officer at ISAF Joint Command, said in an email.

Treating casualties after incidents is the first concern, not filing claims, according to Col. David Nelson, director of ISAF’s Civilian Casualty Mitigation Team.

“ISAF provides initial medical assistance to all civilian casualties regardless of how they were hurt during the conflict. As necessary, ISAF provides further medical care until the injury can be treated in the Afghan medical system,” he said by email from Afghanistan.

For less serious incidents, such as traffic accidents, Afghanis are handed claims card on the spot, ISAF Joint Command officials said. Issuing a payment is not an admission of legal liability or fault, the GAO said in a 2007 report.

Deciding claims

When multiple casualties occur in the same event, claims are likely coordinated through heads of families or village elders. Not every claim, however, is automatically paid.

“ISAF goes through great lengths to determine the legitimacy of the claims made against them where there is an element of doubt that ISAF caused a [civilian casualty],” a command spokesman wrote in an email.

Units investigate claims and confirm the timing of coalition military action, vehicle movements and “aircraft weapons releases” if necessary.

The Afghan National Police also help verify claims. Regional Commands normally decide who is paid after investigations.

Claims can be delivered by ISAF units, pay agents or local governments, according to Carr.

Sometimes, locals do not accept payments, such as in cases where Afghans caused traffic accidents, Carr said.

Not all civilian casualties who receive medical care after incidents were injured by coalition forces.

In a late-2006 incident, coalition forces treated four children wounded by a 20mm round that exploded after the group threw it into a burn pit, according to military documents released by the website WikiLeaks.

The injured children traveled to a coalition outpost in eastern Afghanistan, where three of them received treatment and were given new clothes. The fourth child was evacuated to another base because of an “open fracture.”

Following the event, coalition personnel planned a humanitarian mission at the children’s village to tell elders about the dangers of unexploded ordnance, the documents said.

ISAF estimates enemy forces caused more than 2,500 casualties from January to October 2011, many resulting from improvised explosive devices, according to Carr.

Regardless of which side causes civilian casualties, ISAF continues to focus on keeping populations safe, Carr said.

A “civilian-casualty mitigation team,” working out of ISAF headquarters, examines ways to reduce and avoid civilian casualties at all levels of operations.

ISAF information campaigns also are aimed at preventing casualties.

A new Afghan-led public safety campaign plans to tell the public through radio and TV announcements how to drive near coalition convoys and approach combat outposts.

To confront enemy propaganda that tries to exploit the issue of civilian casualties caused by ISAF, the command broadcasts its own spots that blame insurgents for civilian killings and the recruiting of children to lay IEDs. The command also pays rewards to those who relay information about weapons caches or identify IED locations.

Today, ISAF teaches troops the importance of avoiding collateral damage to counterinsurgency operations during pre-deployment and in-theater training.

Reducing civilian casualties is an issue at the heart of ISAF operations, and is not left for subordinate units to handle alone, according to command officials, who said it has Allen’s “full attention.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.