Military officials who had been briefed on the investigation into the AC-130 gunship attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan said the unfortunate event was caused by a combination of technical malfunctions, procedural failures and human errors.
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By Ken Hackman (Defense Imagery) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
The gunship crew was supposed to destroy the headquarters of the Afghan intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security, in Kunduz. The building had been occupied by the Taliban a few days earlier before the Oct. 3 incident.
Operating overhead, they were unable to locate the building using their instruments and had to identify the target using information relayed by troops on the ground. There is also the question why those ground forces failed to radio the gunship that it was hitting the wrong target during the hour-long attack.
The American special forces that called in the air strike were also not in extreme danger, a breach in the protocols for calling for air strikes.