Life Has a Price

KABUL (Reuters) – In Afghanistan, if NATO forces kill a member of your family, it is better in terms of money if they come from Germany or Italy than the United States or Britain.

In the cold calculation of how much to pay for victims of the decade-old war, British forces have doled out as little as $210, while German forces have paid as much as $25,000, according to a study by the human rights NGO CIVIC.

Civilian casualties caused by NATO forces hunting insurgents are a major source of friction between the Afghan government and its Western backers – all the more so after a lone U.S. soldier gunned down 16 Afghan villagers at the weekend.

“They have to ask themselves the question how much is one’s life worth? You can’t put a price on it,” Rafi Nabi, 33 and unemployed, said in a market in the Afghan capital.

“If one were to kill an American and offer to compensate their death with money, they wouldn’t accept it.”

It was unclear if the United States intends to pay reparations to the families of 16 people suspected to have been killed by the U.S. staff sergeant in a remote area of the southern province of Kandahar, the traditional Taliban stronghold. Eleven victims were said to come from one family. CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY.