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The US commander of international forces in Afghanistan has said an air strike on a hospital in the northern city of Kunduz was a mistake.
Gen John Campbell said that the US would never intentionally target a protected medical facility.
At least 22 people were killed in the attack as government forces battled to retake the city from the Taliban.
Gen Campbell also said that the US must consider boosting its military presence in Afghanistan after 2016.
He 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 reduction, the general said.
Analysis: Nick Bryant, Washington DC
To begin with the language was guarded, as one would expect from an officer mindful of the chain of command, but the message delivered on Capitol Hill by America's top military commander in Afghanistan soon became abundantly clear: the Obama administration should rethink its plan to reduce the number of US troops in the country from the present level of 9,800 to 1,000 by the end of next year.
"Yes sir," said Gen John F Campbell, when asked whether his commander-in-chief, President Obama, should review the drawdown plan.
Restricting the American presence to a security force based at the US embassy in Kabul would mean that the ability to train, advise and assist Afghan forces would be "very limited", he said.
As for counter-terrorism operations, they also would be "much more limited".
Alternative recommendations had been presented to the White House, although Gen Campbell would not provide specifics. But the options were "above and beyond a normal embassy presence".
What he was essentially saying was that the US military cannot abandon Afghanistan, given the resurgence of the Taliban and the inability of Afghan forces to fight the insurgents by themselves.
Medical charity MSF has called for an independent international inquiry into the Kunduz attack.
It has launched a Twitter campaign in support of its demand.
The charity said that statements from the Afghan government implied that the hospital had been deliberately targeted - and amounted to an admission of a war crime.
Image copyright EPA Image caption Gen Campbell is concerned that the Afghan military is kept up to strength to fend off the Taliban Image copyright AP Image caption The hospital was severely damaged and is no longer being used by MSF In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington, Gen Campbell said: "To be clear, the decision to provide aerial fires was a US decision, made within the US chain of command."
Gen Campbell said that the proposed air strike underwent "rigorous" US military procedures beforehand which were intended to prevent such mistakes.
He said the attack was requested by Afghan forces who were fighting Taliban fighters in Kunduz, He said they were in communication with American special operations troops at the scene.
Those US forces in turn were in contact with the AC-130 gunship that fired on the hospital, he said.
"The hospital was mistakenly struck," he said. "We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility."
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Media caption "I saw doctors and patients burning" - survivors speak to the BBC's Shaimaa Khalil
The general said that he was not in a position to provide more details about what happened, including who may have failed to follow military guidelines to avert attacks on hospitals.
He said that such details must await the outcome of numerous inquiries.
The White House on Tuesday announced that Department of Justice would investigate the air strike.
Similar probes are being conducted by the Pentagon, Nato and an American-Afghan team.
MSF President Joanne Liu has dismissed the American explanation for the attack. "Until proven otherwise, we are working on the presumption of a war crime," she said in a statement.
She said that her charity had alerted the Afghan and coalition military leadership about the attack, which continued for at least another 30 minutes.
"The hospital was well known and the GPS co-ordinates had been regularly shared with coalition and Afghan military and civilian officials, as recently as Tuesday 29 September," she said.
"This attack cannot be brushed aside as a mere mistake or an inevitable consequence of war."
Read more on the battle for Kunduz:
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Taliban conflict
Background
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Gen John Campbell said that the US would never intentionally target a protected medical facility.
At least 22 people were killed in the attack as government forces battled to retake the city from the Taliban.
Gen Campbell also said that the US must consider boosting its military presence in Afghanistan after 2016.
He 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 reduction, the general said.
Analysis: Nick Bryant, Washington DC
To begin with the language was guarded, as one would expect from an officer mindful of the chain of command, but the message delivered on Capitol Hill by America's top military commander in Afghanistan soon became abundantly clear: the Obama administration should rethink its plan to reduce the number of US troops in the country from the present level of 9,800 to 1,000 by the end of next year.
"Yes sir," said Gen John F Campbell, when asked whether his commander-in-chief, President Obama, should review the drawdown plan.
Restricting the American presence to a security force based at the US embassy in Kabul would mean that the ability to train, advise and assist Afghan forces would be "very limited", he said.
As for counter-terrorism operations, they also would be "much more limited".
Alternative recommendations had been presented to the White House, although Gen Campbell would not provide specifics. But the options were "above and beyond a normal embassy presence".
What he was essentially saying was that the US military cannot abandon Afghanistan, given the resurgence of the Taliban and the inability of Afghan forces to fight the insurgents by themselves.
Medical charity MSF has called for an independent international inquiry into the Kunduz attack.
It has launched a Twitter campaign in support of its demand.
The charity said that statements from the Afghan government implied that the hospital had been deliberately targeted - and amounted to an admission of a war crime.
Image copyright EPA Image caption Gen Campbell is concerned that the Afghan military is kept up to strength to fend off the Taliban Image copyright AP Image caption The hospital was severely damaged and is no longer being used by MSF In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington, Gen Campbell said: "To be clear, the decision to provide aerial fires was a US decision, made within the US chain of command."
Gen Campbell said that the proposed air strike underwent "rigorous" US military procedures beforehand which were intended to prevent such mistakes.
He said the attack was requested by Afghan forces who were fighting Taliban fighters in Kunduz, He said they were in communication with American special operations troops at the scene.
Those US forces in turn were in contact with the AC-130 gunship that fired on the hospital, he said.
"The hospital was mistakenly struck," he said. "We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility."
Jump media player
Media player help
Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.
Media caption "I saw doctors and patients burning" - survivors speak to the BBC's Shaimaa Khalil
The general said that he was not in a position to provide more details about what happened, including who may have failed to follow military guidelines to avert attacks on hospitals.
He said that such details must await the outcome of numerous inquiries.
The White House on Tuesday announced that Department of Justice would investigate the air strike.
Similar probes are being conducted by the Pentagon, Nato and an American-Afghan team.
MSF President Joanne Liu has dismissed the American explanation for the attack. "Until proven otherwise, we are working on the presumption of a war crime," she said in a statement.
She said that her charity had alerted the Afghan and coalition military leadership about the attack, which continued for at least another 30 minutes.
"The hospital was well known and the GPS co-ordinates had been regularly shared with coalition and Afghan military and civilian officials, as recently as Tuesday 29 September," she said.
"This attack cannot be brushed aside as a mere mistake or an inevitable consequence of war."
Read more on the battle for Kunduz:
- The significance of Kunduz lies in its strategic location at the centre of drug-smuggling routes
- Residents' tales of fighting in Kunduz
- In pictures: How Kunduz 'recapture' unfolded
- Crucial capture: Taliban's biggest victory since 2001
- Who are the Taliban? A guide to the complexities and conflicts within the militant group
- Taliban selfies: The militants posing for pictures as they seized the city
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Taliban conflict
- The battle for the Taliban
23 September 2015
- Who are the Taliban?
29 September 2015
- Battleground Kunduz: The city the Taliban seized
29 September 2015
- Profile: Mullah Akhtar Mansour
30 September 2015
- Helmand: Life after UK withdrawal
20 July 2015
- Mullah Omar: The myth and the movement
29 July 2015
- Pakistan quiet on Mullah Omar death
30 July 2015
- In pictures: Peshawar school attack
16 December 2014
- Video Just who was Taliban's Mullah Omar?
30 July 2015
- Where have all Pakistan's militants gone?
30 June 2014
- The Karzai years: From hope to recrimination
12 July 2014
- Afghanistan: Before and after the Taliban
2 April 2014
- Profile: Ashraf Ghani
21 September 2014
- Profile: Abdullah Abdullah
29 September 2014
- Mullah Omar: Reclusive figure
30 July 2015
- What lies behind Afghanistan's insider attacks?
11 March 2013
Background
- How Qatar came to host the Taliban
22 June 2013
- Video Nato's exit strategy in Afghanistan
18 May 2012
- Eight weeks to face the Taliban
9 March 2011
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