MSF Closes Afghan Health Center after Special Forces Raid
A major international medical aid agency Thursday lashed out at Afghan special forces for an "unacceptable" raid on a treatment center that led to the facility being closed temporarily.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, said armed members of the Afghan special forces entered its trauma center in the northern province of Kunduz on Wednesday and "behaved violently towards staff."
Kunduz has become a key battleground as the Taliban wage their annual summer offensive, with fierce fighting raging there in recent weeks and the militants coming close to seizing the provincial capital.
"This incident is an unacceptable breach of the guarantee of safe treatment of patients within MSF medical facilities," Bart Janssens, MSF's director of operations in Afghanistan, said in a statement.
"This incident demonstrates a serious lack of respect for the medical mission, which is safeguarded under international humanitarian law."
The center, which has been open in Kunduz City since August 2011, is the only medical facility in the region that can deal with major injuries, giving it a crucial role as the fight against the Taliban rages.
Kunduz province has seen weeks of stalemated fighting since the Taliban launched their annual spring offensive in April, with territory passing back and forth between the government and insurgents.
Afghan troops and police are battling the Taliban alone in the first "fighting season" since NATO ended its combat mission and left local forces to take charge of security.
Source: Agence France Presse
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