Lower Babur is a village in theArghandab District ofKandahar Province in southernAfghanistan that was destroyed by American military forces in October and November 2010.[1]
In the Autumn of 2010, theUnited States Army launchedOperation Dragon Strike in Kandahar as a part of U.S. PresidentBarack Obama's broader troop surge strategy in Afghanistan.[2] After experiencing high casualties in Arghandab, Lt. Col. David S. Flynn of the American1-320th field artillery, a part of the101st Airborne Division, ordered villagers in some villages to diffuse IEDs or leave their villages, which would be destroyed by aerial bombardment.[citation needed] Flynn maintained that villagers knew the location of IEDs;[citation needed] some villagers later stated that they would coordinate with insurgents to travel safely along certain paths at certain hours of the day.[3]
Flynn later explained that the villages were empty of people and full of IEDs,[4] a claim repeated byThe New York Times.[5] Villagers near Lower Babur disputed this account during interviews withIPS, explaining that they had evacuated their homes prior to the American offensive, but returned regularly to tend to their properties.[3][6]
Few media sources describe the destruction of Lower Babur specifically.[1]Arghandab District governor Shah Muhammed Ahmadi reported that 6 villages had been destroyed, with his assent and the agreement of their inhabitants.[5] In April 2011, Bob Strong of Reuters reported that "a walk through what was once the village of lower Babur revealed a narrow strip of rubble surrounded by orchards and forest on both sides, testimony to the force of U.S. bombing."[7] Strong noted that the village mosque had been rebuilt.[7] In August 2011, Sean Martin reported that 20 small houses had been "rebuilt" by the "Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team." Afghans had not yet moved back into their village.[8]
| Districts |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Populated places | ||
| Landforms | ||
| Other | ||
