Afghanistan Lite

Renée Montagne interviewed Ivan Watson reporting from Afghanistan this morning on the possibility that this Monday's airstrikes by the US may have killed dozens of civilians. Ivan Watson had some interesting things to say at the beginning of the interview: mentioning that the area of the strikes was sealed off to reporters, that US airstrikes with heavy civilian tolls are not new in Afghanistan, and that even Hamid Kharzai was nearly killed in such a strike back in 2001. As my partner noted, this was a good opening for Montagne to ask some meaty follow up questions such as why is the area off limits to reporters, or how often can reports be independently verified, or how many civilians are estimated to have been killed by coalition forces, or what about the near-strike on Kharai. Instead Montagne just passed by and asked about other fighting reported in the south of Afghanistan. NPR has the potential to inform, but seems determined to obscure--too bad.