The United States carried out an airstrike Aug. 29  that killed Afghan civilians in Kabul and provoked a revisit to the debate on the ethics of drone warfare. The Pentagon originally claimed to have killed a  high-profile affiliate of the Islamic State group and three civilians  in Afghanistan, but ended up killing 10 civilians — including seven children — instead. 

The casualties of innocent Afghans is not is is not an uncommon occurrence as of late, with studies showing almost 90% of people killed in the recent drone strikes “were not the intended targets” of the attacks. 

Neta Crawford, co-director of the Cost of War Project at Brown University, also found that in the past 20 years, in Afghanistan alone, about 5,900 Afghan civilians have been killed by airstrikes in their home country. 

U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth Mckenzie Jr. said in a press conference that the United States is currently considering reparations to the family members of those killed in the attack. Some say that the best form of reparations that the United States could provide would be to reform the U.S. refugee settlement system to make it easier for refugees to thrive in the country upon arrival. 

Hilmi Ulas, a professor in Chapman’s peace studies department, agreed that taking in refugees is the most effective way for the United States to rectify its past wrongdoings. 

“I am a proponent of migration as reparation myself and believe that historical interventions and colonization have continuing effects for which the initiating countries  are responsible,” Ulas said. “(However), I realize that housing refugees and determining refugee status are costly, long-term processes.” 

Additionally, Ulas hopes the event will serve as a catalyst for further discussion on the ethics of drone warfare.  

“We can only hope that this tragedy acts as the trigger event for the United States and the United Nations to start considering how to conduct ‘just wars’ with drones,” Ulas said. “There are currently no real ethical principles guiding drone warfare.” 

Bojan Petrovic, a political science professor at Chapman, said the Pentagon believes drones kill less civilians than their predecessors, F16 Fighting Falcons, and that there is a hope that drones will get better and more accurate. The Pentagon has been working to improve simulation programs in order to predict outcomes of warfare and avoid unintended casualties. However, Petrovic feels that the accuracy of drones will continue to go down in areas (like Afghanistan) where the U.S. no longer has human intelligence on the ground.

“You need very good human intelligence to determine targets, and that is likely to be a big problem in the future, because the United States will no longer have special forces in Afghanistan and will have little ability to get human intelligence,” Petrovic said. 

Thousands of refugees from Afghanistan have already arrived in the United States, and more are likely to follow. Back in February 2021, President Biden released an executive order raising the annual refugee resettlement cap to 125,000. Biden said he hoped the move would bring the United States back to being “a leader of refugee resettlement.” 

The move effectively reversed former president Donald Trump’s presidential memorandum, whichstrictly limited refugee intake in an effort to curb terrorism. During Trump’s presidency, many refugee resettlement organizations were shut down. 

The stance that refugees place financial burden on the U.S.economy has become popular among conservative politicians and news outlets. Jim Lamon, Republican U.S. Senate Candidate from Arizona, said he is against the United States accepting Afghan refugees, including translators and others who helped the American military during the two-decade-long war. 

“We cannot continue to be the world’s refugee camp,” Lamon said to the Associated Press.

The National Bureau of Economic Research conducted a study to explore the effect refugees have on the nation’s economy and found that a majority of refugees in the U.S. pay $20,000 more per person in taxes than they receive in benefits. Researchers from the Public Center of Integrity discovered that “during the 10 years between 2005 and 2014, refugees and asylees here from 1980 on contributed $63 billion more to government revenues than they used in public services.”

Zeenat Khan is the founder of DFW Refugee Outreach Services (DFWROS), a non-profit organization based in Texas in Dallas and Fort Worth focused on providing mentorship, education, and providing necessary supplies for refugee families.. Khan said  there are many misconceptions about the role of refugees in America — most commonly, she hears people say that refugees “are a burden” and are “here to take our jobs.” 

“(Refugees) are not here to take anyone’s job. They are here to live in peace and provide a safe haven for their kids,” Khan said. 

Khan added that  though some individuals may continue to hold prejudices against refugees, she is touched by the inundation of support she’s seen for DFWROS in the wake of recent events.

“The moment we posted regarding the influx of Afghan refugees and the help required, we had 2000 text messages, emails and calls (from people ready) to help in any way possible,” Khan said. “We have received hundreds of messages from concerned citizens regarding the placement of the families and the willingness to foster families — people opening (their) doors to absolute strangers.”

Lt. Gen. Sami Said, the Air Force inspector general, announced  he will be leading a review  of  the Kabul airstrike. He will complete the investigation in 45 days. 

"Part of that review will be to examine the (U.S. Central Command) investigation itself, the thoroughness of the investigation, to study the degree to which any policies, procedures or targeting mechanisms may need to be altered going forward — if any — and of course to then take a look at what levels of accountability might be appropriate — and if so, at what level," Pentagon Press Secretary Mike Kirby said in a press briefing Sept. 20.  

With the consequences of drone warfare literally arriving at our doorstep, the Biden administration will have to make decisions in the coming months on refugee intake and airstrikes that will define its legacy.