Germany and US drone warfare | DW Documentary

For years, the US has been using drone attacks to kill people suspected of involvement in terrorism. But these strikes kill civilians too.

In August 2021, shortly after the Taliban captured Kabul, a US drone struck a car backing into a courtyard in the Afghan capital. The drone operators, who were thousands of kilometers away, believed they were tracking an ISIS terrorist and that the car contained explosives. They made the decision to fire the missile in a bid to head off an attack on troops and civilians.

But the Hellfire missile killed ten innocent people: seven children aged between 2 and 12, Zemarai Ahmadi, an Afghan employed by a US aid organization, and two of his brothers.

Initially, the US military claimed the drone strike had prevented a terrorist attack and that no noncombatants were harmed. It was only three weeks later, after extensive media coverage of the victims, that the Pentagon admitted only civilians had been killed.

In fact, thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed or seriously injured by US air strikes in the last 20 years.

Leaked Pentagon papers showed that in one five-month period in 2013, 90% of people killed in US drone killings were not the intended targets.

The Green Party has long maintained that these strikes violate international humanitarian law and that Germany is complicit because the Ramstein air base in Rhineland-Palatinate plays a key role in US drone warfare. But now that the party is a partner in Germany’s coalition government, it has become less vocal on the issue.

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