Pentagon releases plan to mitigate civilian casualties in U.S. airstrikes

The Pentagon released a plan Thursday aimed at better preventing civilian casualties and harm to civilian infrastructure in U.S. airstrikes. 

In January, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tasked a working group with developing a plan after the U.S. military faced criticism for recent strikes. A botched strike in Afghanistan last August killed 10 civilians, including seven children, and a recent investigation by the New York Times of a 2019 strike in Syria found more civilians were killed than the military initially acknowledged. 

"The protection of civilians is a strategic priority as well as a moral imperative," Austin wrote Thursday in a memo with an action plan to senior civilian leadership and military commanders.