Afghan leader Karzai issues “last warning” to NATO
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13589193
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has forcefully condemned the killing of 14 civilians in the south-west of the country in a suspected Nato air strike.
Mr Karzai said his government had repeatedly asked the US to stop raids which end up killing Afghan civilians and this was his “last warning”.
A Nato spokesman said a team had been sent to Helmand province to investigate the attack carried out on Saturday.
Afghan officials say all those killed were women and children.
The strike took place in Nawzad district after a US Marines base came under attack.
The air strike, targeted at insurgents, struck two civilian homes, killing two women and 12 children, reports say.
“The president called this incident a great mistake and the murdering of Afghanistan’s children and women, and on behalf of the Afghan people gives his last warning to the US troops and US officials in this regard,” his office said.
The White House said it shared Mr Karzai’s concerns and took them “very seriously”.
A group from Sera Cala village travelled to Helmand’s capital, Lashkar Gah, bringing with them the bodies of eight dead children, some as young as two years old, says the BBC’s Quentin Sommerville in Kabul.
“See, they aren’t Taliban,” they chanted as the carried the corpses to local journalists and the governor’s mansion.
While insurgents are responsible for most civilian deaths in Afghanistan, the killings of Afghans by foreign soldiers is a source of deepening anger, our correspondent adds.
President Hamid Karzai has criticised Nato for not doing enough to prevent such deaths, especially during “night raids” and has called on the country’s ministry of defence to stop what he described as “arbitrary” operations by foreign forces.
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i thought when OBL was “killed” that these sort of attacks wouldnt be needed..but no..they continue..and now karzai the CIA plant displays mock outrage..like..what are you going to do if they dont stop?..yeah thought so..
401
I don’t really expect that strategy of assuming anyone in civilian is a terrorist to be any more effective in Afghanistan than it was in Vietnam, but hope springs eternal in the military mind.
the thirty years war, the hundred year war, the global war on terror. back in the bad old days battles were fought on battlefields, the carnage was somewhat contained, not since guernica have these conditions obtained, and one could argue not since shermans march to the sea…………
this is exactly why we should get the hell out of these wars, either declare war, institute the draft, and take care of business, then we wouldn’t be having this discussion, civilian deaths would be considered part of a package deal, not saying it’s right, but there it is.
but once again, we have an amorphous enemy, global war where it is kosher to target our own citizens for killing, and no one able to declare what is considered “mission accomplished”, no peace treaty, no armistice…………..
this is, once again, why we should follow the constitution to the letter, and more importantly the spirit of the law.
but then the disaster capitalism military/industrial/propaganda complex couldn’t rake in all those profits, while bankrupting our country in the deal, now could they?
follow the spirit and letter of the law and you wouldn’t have people like me dissing our gangster-in-chief, “bloody barack” obomber, peace be upon him.
obama is wiping his butt with the constitution