KABUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th September, 2019) The head of Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS), Mohammad Masoom Stanikzai, on Thursday has lodged his resignation to President Ashraf Ghani after four civilian brothers were killed by mistake in a government-led counterterrorist operation in the Jalalabad city.
Last night, the Afghan security forces conducted a counterterrorist operation in Jalalabad, which resulted in the killing of four young men who, as local residents claim, were civilians and brothers. In a demonstration of protest, people took their dead bodies to the governor's palace and demanded an investigation into the incident.
The NDS, however, has insisted that the killed individuals were linked to the Islamic State terrorist organization (IS, banned in Russia).
In the wake of the incident, Ghani has convened an emergency meeting with the Afghan security and judiciary officials and ordered the Attorney General to launch an investigation. In the meantime, he confirmed his acceptance of Stanikzai's resignation.
"I have regretfully accepted the resignation of NDS chief, Mr. Stanikzai, who had had success in other areas of his work," Ghani said on Twitter.
In a different statement, he has stressed that Afghanistan has a zero tolerance policy for civilian casualties and any military official, no matter how high in rank, will be held accountable in full accordance with Afghan law if found guilty by the investigation.
"Affected families and the public want justice, so the Attorney General of Afghanistan has been instructed to investigate the incident in Jalalabad in line with the country's law," Ghani said.
He added that similar incidents have already taken place in other Afghan cities and despite him ordering the responsible parties to monitor, carefully plan and control the counterterrorist operations, "these measures were not enough and the authorities had failed to prevent such tragedies."
Meanwhile, the relatives of the deceased boys insist that there are substantial proof, including on social media, that they were innocent.
"The victims of the incident were not affiliated with any armed groups and some of them even had government jobs. These young men also often posted on social media and were supportive of the Afghan forces and government," Haseeb, a family member of the four brothers, told Sputnik.
Their uncle, Abdul Qayyum, in turn said that the whole family expects answers from the government.
For almost two decades, Afghanistan has suffered instability due to continuous insurgency, including by the IS terrorist organization, which has been operating in the country since 2015. The Afghan security forces regularly conduct counterterrorist operations across the country with support of international troops stationed in Afghanistan since 2001.
