The United States Commander of International Forces says an air strike on a hospital in the northern city of Kunduz was a mistake.
General John Campbell said that the US will never intentionally target a protected medical facility.
He also said that the US must consider boosting its military presence in Afghanistan after 2016.
The General said that such a measure would be necessary if the Taliban upsurge was to be repelled and Afghanistan’s military kept up to fighting strength.
The “tenuous security situation” might require a re-think of any troop draw-down, General Campbell said.
But Medical Charity, Medecine San Frontieres (MSF) had urged states to invoke a never-used international body to investigate the US bombing of its hospital.
The International Humanitarian Fact-finding Commission was established in 1991 under the Geneva conventions that regulate issues of war.
At least 22 people were killed in the attack as government forces battled to retake the city from the Taliban.
