[Photo by VIOLINSOLDIER]
THE TELEGRAPH: General Stanley McChrystal tried to contact his subordinates after a Nato strike killed 125 civilians, but too many had been “partying it up” and could not be raised. General McChrystal, head of International Forces in Afghanistan (Isaf), has since put a stop to drinking, admonishing staff for not having “their heads in the right place” on Friday morning a few hours after the attack, the Times reports. The diktat means that the coffee shops and bars where commanders used to be able to enjoy a beer or three will now be dry. The Isaf headquarters covers half a square mile but it has at least seven bars that serve tax-free beer and wine including a Tora Bora sports bar complete with flat-screen televisions and football memorabilia, the Gravel Pit, which has a snooker table, a German beer hall, the 37 Club and a Nordic Palace, the paper reports. MORE
THE TELEGRAPH: German troops in Kunduz province summoned a US F-15 jet to destroy two fuel tankers, which had allegedly been hijacked by Taliban insurgents. When the fighter dropped two 500lb bombs, the explosions ignited the cargo of liquid fuel, causing a fireball that engulfed a crowd of people. Scores of Afghans had apparently gathered around the tankers to siphon petrol – and between 54 and 70 are thought to have died. At a stroke, German troops were responsible for more deaths than at any other time since the Second World War. MORE
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that the world should reserve judgment on whether civilians were killed in a German-ordered airstrike in Afghanistan, even as NATO said it believed that civilians had died. Merkel said her country would not accept premature judgments of its actions in the strike last week and delivered a robust defense of Germany’s military mission in Afghanistan. MORE