U.S. drone strike kills 30 pine nut farm workers in Afghanistan

> How exactly does the reporter know which people are IS fighters? Is there some notion that militants don’t ever also farm?

The article says it explicitly: the information is sourced from Afghan officials.

You could say that this may not be the most trustworthy source in this case, and I'd agree, but on the other hand, the problem of mounting civilian casualties of US drone strikes is already a decade if not more old, was widely reported on a few years ago, and is continuously being investigated by various organizations. If what Afghan officials are saying is true, it would not the least bit surprising - and that fact is a huge problem.

> Also in these comments there seems to be a huge double standard. The idea the United States might accidentally kill some civilians is somehow morally outrageous, but the regular and deliberate targeting of civilians by the Taliban and the IS as they attempt to completely destabilize the Afghan government is taken as somehow normal?

I think no one in their right mind would say that what the ISIS or other terrorist groups are doing is anything but repugnant. They're doing evil things, that's a baseline fact, so it's unmentioned - there's nothing interesting in pointing this out. What's more interesting is where did ISIS come from and why are they doing what they're doing, and a significant part of the answer to that question is American military excursions and regular, continued murder of civilians using remote-piloted drones. ISIS may be monsters, but the US is supposed to hold itself to higher standards, not step down to the same level.

That’s simply untrue. They are trying to set up a Caliphate. Not everything is a reaction to something the US did.

Shall we just let Israel get wiped off the map while we are at it?

Edit: “they” in my sentence is IS, and Al-Qaeda, if that wasn’t obvious.

Nothing to do with the power vacuum left by the US after destroying Iraq and Afghanistan? Nothing to do with weapons and training distributed in that region by the US many years ago? Nothing to do with drone strikes fueling anti-American sentiment that's then used as motivation and justification for performing acts of terror?

I didn't say US is the whole reason here. But it's a big part of it.

You, sir, have a lot of reading to do. I'd start with a few histories of the region, then move into political theory.

May I recommend the following?

"Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History" by Thomas Barfield