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MSF Opens First Kunduz Clinic Since Deadly Air Strike In 2015


FILE: A vehicle is parked in front of a damaged building at Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital in Kunduz.
FILE: A vehicle is parked in front of a damaged building at Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital in Kunduz.

Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) has reopened a small medical clinic in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz Province, the first facility there since U.S. air strikes destroyed an MSF hospital in 2015.

An air attack by American special forces in 2015 killed 42 patients, medical staff, and caregivers at the MSF trauma center.

An American military probe found that the attack was the result of human error and equipment failure, among other factors.

The group is working to secure assurances from American and Afghan military officials that their medical facilities would be respected and protected.

The new clinic, which will provide outpatient treatment of minor or chronic injuries, is not situated at the site of the destroyed hospital.

MSF hopes to be able to build a new trauma center in Kunduz as early as 2018.

The trauma center was destroyed in 2015 during a period when Taliban militants briefly overran the city.

"The security in Kunduz is still quite volatile, and we know that the needs are really dire," Silvia Dallatomasina, head of programs for MSF in Afghanistan, told Reuters

Based on reporting by Reuters

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