Pentagon plan aims to help avoid civilian deaths in strikes

By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon will set up a new center 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 and released Thursday comes on the heels of widespread criticism over a U.S. airstrike in Kabul last August that killed 10 civilians including children during the final chaotic days of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. A key criticism of the drone strike was that those making the final decision were too quick to conclude the vehicle under watch aligned with the intelligence and confirmed their conclusion to bomb what turned out to be the wrong car.