U.S. drone pilots defend tactics as Afghans question civilian toll
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KANDAHAR - They are speaking about the same deadly drone war that the United States has been waging this year, but talk to the U.S. military and Afghan civilians and their conclusions about who is targeted are often starkly different.
To the Americans, only enemy combatants were killed by missiles fired from unmanned aircraft in Afghanistan in 2016. Eyewitness accounts, however, along with United Nations reports, suggest dozens of civilians were among the casualties.
"People seem to think we just shoot missiles at random," Lieutenant Shaw, a drone operator in his 20s told Reuters at the U.S. Air Force's base in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan. "But if anything, we are better equipped than many manned aircraft to make sure we have the right guy."
The certainty expressed by drone operators often contrasts with the chaos described by witnesses on the ground.
