In Afghanistan, Royal Air Force drops leaflets, kills little girl

I don’t generally discuss politics, but if there’s a better metaphor for what’s going wrong in Afghanistan, I’d like to hear it. From News.com.au:

A YOUNG Afghan girl died after a box of public information leaflets, dropped by a Royal Air Force plane over Afghanistan, landed on her, a newspaper said Wednesday…

The drop occurred over a rural area of Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province on June 23 as part of an information campaign, the newspaper said.”Sadly one of the boxes failed to fully open and on landing caused serious injuries to an Afghan child,” an RAF spokesman said.

“The child was treated at the local medical facility in Kandahar where, despite the best efforts of staff, she died as a result of her injuries.”

The Ministry of Defence called the incident “highly regrettable” and was unable (or declined) to identify the leaflets being dropped. Let’s hope they were innocuous and/or positive, like “Helpful Tips for Clean Water.” Not, for example, “Fuck the Taliban.”

Afghan girl killed by RAF leaflet drop | News.com.au.