Polish soldiers to face charges of murder in Afghanistan?

An Afghan boy flies a kite, a popular hobby in Afghanistan which was once banned by the Taliban

For the first time in Poland's foreign military mission history soldiers are likely to be prosecuted for the deaths of civilians as a result of an incident in Afghanistan on August 17th this year.

7 Polish soldiers are the subjects of today's main headlines as military prosecutors in the city of Poznan have suggested they will face criminal charges related to the deaths of non-combatant women and children while causing injury to many more after they returned fire on Taliban forces who had allegedly taken cover in a civilian populated area.

An armoured vehicle in their convoy had allegedly been hit by a roadside bomb after they responded to a U.S. patrol's appeal for assistance in combat operations. d

The Defence Ministry released a statement yesterday confirming that prosecutors the soldiers have been detained on suspicion of "violating international law and norms, especially the Hague and Geneva Conventions."

At the time of the alleged killings the men were members of the 1,200 strong Polish contingent of the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan. after a Polish armored vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. Although the Polish ministry has not revealed the death toll.

NATO reported, however, that five Afghan civilians were killed and three injured during an Aug. 16 firefight in eastern Afghanistan.

So doesthis all mean that the military will pull the plug on pop star/sex symbol extraordinaire Doda's planned concert?

Even Paddy Ashdown, a former leader of Britain's Liberal Democratic Party, and the international community's High Representative in Bosnia from 2002-2005, is quoted by the Daily Telegraph as saying 'we have lost, I think, and success is now unlikely.'

And this Paddy wrote the following last June:

Independent tallies have confirmed the claim of an Afghan human rights group that the U.S.-le NATO force has killed more civilians than the Taliban in the first half of this year.
UN figures show at least three hundred fourteen civilians died in NATO bombings this year. Two-hundred seventy-nine were killed by the Taliban. The NATO figure does not include anywhere from forty-five to eighty-civilians reportedly killed in a NATO bombing in Helman province last week.
The Los Angeles Times reports Afghan police recently barred journalists from the scene of a suicide attack on a US military convoy. The police officers explained: “Don’t go close. The Americans might shoot you.”