The Wech Baghtu wedding party airstrike refers to the killing of about 37

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

civilians, mostly women and children, and injuring about 27 others by a

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

airstrike on November the 3rd 2008. The group was celebrating a wedding at a housing complex in the village of Wech Baghtu, a

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

stronghold in the

Shah Wali Kot District Shah Wali Kot District ( ps, شاه ولي کوټ ولسوالۍ, fa, ولسوالی شاه ولی کوت) is situated in the northern part of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. It borders Khakrez District to the west, Naish District and Oruzgan P ...

Kandahar province Kandahār ( ps, ; Kandahār, prs, ; ''Qandahār'') is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southern part of the country, sharing a border with Pakistan, to the south. It is surrounded by Helmand in the west, Uruzgan ...

, Afghanistan. The airstrike followed a firefight breaking out between US troops and Taliban forces stationed on a mountain behind the wedding party. On 7 November 2008, Afghan officials said a joint investigation found that 37 civilians and 26 insurgents were killed in Wech Baghtu. Wedding parties in Afghanistan are segregated by sex; of the civilians, 23 were children, 10 were women, and 4 were men. Another 27 persons were injured, including the bride. The bombing destroyed the housing complex where women and children had gathered to celebrate. On 5 November 2008, Afghan President

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...

responded by demanding that newly-elected US President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

end civilian deaths, stating, "Our demand is that there will be no civilian casualties in Afghanistan. We cannot win the fight against terrorism with airstrikes – this is my first demand of the new president of the United States – to put an end to civilian casualties."

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*Reuters vide
U.S. strike kills wedding party goers -Afghan officials.
Marc W. Herold
Examples of the US ‘liberation’ of Afghanistan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wech Baghtu wedding party attack 2008 in Afghanistan Airstrikes during the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Attacks on weddings Civilian casualties in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) History of Kandahar Province Massacres in Afghanistan Mass murder in 2008 November 2008 events in Asia Attacks in Afghanistan in 2008

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