US won't punish soldiers over civilian drone deaths in Kabul

The US has said it will not punish any of its military personnel for a botched drone strike in Afghanistan's capital Kabul that killed 10 civilians including seven children.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had received a high-level review of the August 29 strike which made no recommendation of accountability.

"He approved their recommendations," Kirby said. 

"The secretary is not... calling for additional accountability measures."

The civilians were killed during the final days before American troops withdrew from the country.

Immediately after the drone strike, Pentagon said the strike targeted a Daesh suicide bomber who posed an imminent threat to US-led troops at the airport as they completed the last stages of their withdrawal.

Reports emerged almost immediately that the drone strike in a neighbourhood west of Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport had killed civilians including children.

The Pentagon later changed its stance, saying the strike was a "tragic mistake".

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Compensation

The strike killed Zemari Ahmadi, an employee of US-based Nutrition and Education International, and nine members of his family.

Last month, NEI founder and president Steve Kwon called the Pentagon's investigation into the incident "deeply disappointing and inadequate."

The Pentagon promised to pay compensation and also to help relocate abroad family members and Afghans working for NEI, but that remains stuck on determining just who is qualified, according to officials.

Kirby said they are still discussing arrangements with Kwon.

"We are working very hard with him and his organization to effect the relocation of the family members," Kirby said.

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"We want to make sure we do it in the most safe and responsible way, so that we know it's getting to the right people and only to the right people."

Kirby, meanwhile, refused to comment on a New York Times story Monday that detailed a secret US military unit that launched drone strikes on Islamic state targets in Syria and had a callous attitude toward civilian deaths.

"We take issues of civilian harm very seriously," Kirby said.

"When we say we take it seriously, we mean it. It doesn't mean we're perfect. It doesn't mean we always get it right," he said.

"And when we don't get it right, we want those mistakes investigated."

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