The military did not directly acknowledge that it inadvertently bombed the wedding party, but said coalition forces used "close air support to suppress enemy fire."
Compensation was paid to the families of the dead and injured, the military said without providing details.
The prompt investigation and findings stood in sharp contrast to some recent high-profile cases involving civilian casualties. Afghans were infuriated when the Americans took weeks to investigate claims by the Afghan government and the United Nations that 90 people, most of them women and children, were killed in an Aug. 22 airstrike in the western province of Herat.
After initially saying that five civilians were killed, a U.S. investigation concluded that 33 civilians had died. But that finding was made six weeks after the airstrike, and the high-level investigation was launched only after videos surfaced that appeared to show large numbers of civilian dead.
"Civilians getting caught in the crossfire is the worst possible thing that could happen," U.S. Army Col. Gregory Julian said of last week's deaths in Kandahar. "We regret this tragic loss of innocent lives."
Afghan weddings are traditionally large, drawn-out affairs, and wedding parties several times have been the target of errant airstrikes, in part because from the air the gatherings can appear similar to concentrations of Taliban fighters.
In Afghanistan's clan-based society, civilian deaths can cause otherwise peaceable villagers to declare a vendetta against those they consider responsible for killing their kin -- in many cases, Western forces.
More than 1,200 civilians have been killed this year. A majority of the deaths were caused by insurgent attacks such as suicide bombings, but human rights groups and Afghan officials say hundreds have died at the hands of foreign forces during fighting with the Taliban and other militant groups.
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laura.king@latimes.com
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Karim Faiez reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan
Laura King reporting from Istanbul, Turkey
