Pentagon plan aims to help avoid civilian deaths in strikes

WASHINGTON, 27 August 2022, (TON): The Pentagon will set up a new center in the next year to help avoid civilian casualties in military operations around the world through better education and training and increased screening before strikes are launched.

The plan ordered by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin comes on the heels of widespread criticism over a US airstrike in Kabul last August that killed 10 civilians, including children, during the final chaotic days of the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

A senior defense official said the development of a new Civilian Protection Center of Excellence and other improvements will cost tens of millions of dollars per year, and the plan more broadly would involve the addition of about 150 staff.

The center would initially start operations in the 2023 budget year that begins Oct. 1, and would be fully staffed and working by 2025. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under department rules to provide details of the plan.

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