SOUNDBITE (English) Army Gen. John F. Campbell, Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan: “I want to take this opportunity to address a very serious and tragic circumstances of an airstrike that occurred in Kunduz on October 3rd. I offer my deepest condolences to those innocent civilians who were harmed and killed on Saturday, I echo the Secretary’s comments about the tremendous work that Doctors Without Borders conducts in Afghanistan and throughout the world. They have provided invaluable medical assistance to those most in need in Afghanistan. As you know the Taliban attacked the city of Kunduz on September 28th, Afghan security forces have been fighting to remove the resurgence ever since. Unfortunately the Taliban have decided to remain in the city and fight from within, knowingly putting civilians at significant risk of harm. Our forces are in the air to provide training assistance to the Afghan forces while our personnel are not actively engaged in the fighting, they are providing valuable support to the Afghans. Afghanistan remains an area of active hostilities and our personnel continue to operate in harms way, therefore they retain the inherent right of self-defense.” SOUNDBITE (English) Army Gen. John F. Campbell, Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan: “We have now learned on October 3rd Afghan forces advised that they were taking fire from enemy positions and asked for air support from US forces. An airstrike was then called to eliminate the Taliban threat and several civilians were accidentally struck this is different from initial reports which indicated that US forces were threatened and the airstrike was called on their behalf. As has been reported I have ordered a thorough investigation into this tragic incident and the investigation is ongoing, the Afghans have ordered the same. If errors were committed, we will acknowledge them, we will hold those responsible accountable and we will take steps to make sure mistakes are not repeated. We’ll await the outcome of the investigation to provide any additional updates and we will share the results of the investigation once it is complete. As you know the United States military takes extraordinary steps to avoid harm to civilians, however the Taliban have purposefully chosen fight from within a heavily urbanized area purposefully placing civilians in harms way. We will continue to take all necessary steps to avoid future civilian casualties, again I want to offer my deepest condolences to those innocent civilians harmed or killed on Saturday.”