Afghanistan criticizes NATO for civilian deaths

Middle East Star Friday 10th February, 2012

KABUL - Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has strongly criticized NATO for the air strikes resulting in the death of at least seven children, further aggravating the strained relations between Kabul and the international coalition forces over civilian deaths during course of anti-terrorists operations.

The government and NATO have both launched a probe to verify the civilian deaths due to air bombing Wednesday night.

A presidential palace statement Thursday said, "President Hamid Karzai strongly condemns the aerial bombing by foreign troops that killed a number of children in Nejrab district."

The statement further added that a delegation of high-ranking officials and lawmakers have been assigned the task of conducting a comprehensive investigation into the air strike at Giawa village in the province of Kapisa on Wednesday that resulted in the death of civilians.

A spokesman for NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said he could "confirm there has been a situation. A joint assessment team went there to identify the situation."

Abdul Hamid Erkin, police chief of Kapisa district told reporters that the children were killed during the raid on a house in Giawa village by special forces on Wednesday night. Next morning it was found that seven children had died in the airstrike.

Though the commanders of the French troops, who patrol the area, claimed they had targeted Taliban shelters, local police have not confirmed existence of any Taliban camp there, Erkin said.

"In fact, the people in the area have very strong anti-Taliban feelings. We filmed the victims, who were children, and showed it to the French commanders," Erkin said, reports Agence-France Presse.

Last week the United Nations had released a report pointing to a rise in civilian casualties in Afghanistan from 2,790 in 2010 to 3,021 in 2011.

The report however blamed the terrorists for most of the deaths.

Criticizing the US for lack of cooperation, the presidential palace Thursday said it was extending the deadline for transfer of operations of the American military prison known as Pawan Detention Facility to the government till March 9.

Situated at a NATO base north of Kabul, outside Bagram Air Field, the US authorities in the country were scheduled to hand over the reins of the prison, which has 3,000 inmates including Afghans, by February 5.