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Letter to the editor

Karzai: Use more restraint

More than 90 Afghan civilians have been killed by airstrikes and artillery in the past 10 days.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 24, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai accused NATO and U.S.-led troops Saturday of carelessly killing scores of Afghan civilians and warned that the fight against resurgent Taliban militants could fail unless foreign forces show more restraint.

In the past 10 days, more than 90 civilians have been killed by airstrikes and artillery fire targeting Taliban insurgents, Karzai said. The mounting toll is sapping the authority of the Western-backed Afghan president, who has pleaded repeatedly with U.S. and NATO commanders to consult Afghan authorities during operations and show more restraint.

"Several times in the last year, the Afghan government tried to prevent civilian casualties, but our innocent people are becoming victims of careless operations of NATO and international forces, " Karzai said.

The casualties listed by Karzai bring the number of civilians killed in NATO or U.S.-led military operations this year to 211, according to an Associated Press tally of figures provided by Afghan and foreign officials and witnesses. That tops the 172 civilians killed in militant attacks.

A NATO airstrike Friday in the southern province of Helmand killed 25 civilians. Last week, 52 civilians died when artillery was fired into Chora, a town in Uruzgan province.

Although Karzai also denounced the Taliban for killing civilians, he directed most of his anger at foreign forces. "We want to cooperate with the international community. We are thankful for their help to Afghanistan, " Karzai said. "But that does not mean that Afghan lives have no value."

"President Karzai has a right to be disappointed and angry over the scale of civilian casualties in the last few days, " said NATO's International Security Assistance Force spokesman Nick Lunt. "We need to do better than we have been doing so far."

Foreign commanders insist they take great care to avoid civilian deaths while trying to beat back the Taliban. Both U.S. and NATO forces, however, rely heavily on devastating air power. That helps minimize foreign troop casualties while inflicting heavy losses on militants - but also regularly harms innocents.

Earlier Saturday, Pakistan said a rocket hit a house in its territory, killing nine civilians during a battle in which NATO and U.S.-led forces killed some 60 suspected Taliban near Afghanistan's eastern border.

Fast Facts:

U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan

Sgt. Dustin Perrott became the 45th U.S. soldier to die in Afghanistan this year when the Humvee he was riding in through the southern province of Ghazni on Thursday hit an improvised explosive device. The IED was the fourth roadside bomb to explode in Ghazni in four days. Called "Dusty" by the men in his company, the Virginia man volunteered to deploy in Iraq in December 2004. He had been awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal and a Purple Heart.

[Last modified June 24, 2007, 01:32:45]