NATO airstrike fells four Afghan kids, four women
14 Feb 2013 5:44 AM IST
A Nato airstrike killed eight civilians, four children and four women, as well as a number of insurgents in an eastern province near the Pakistani border, an Afghan official said Wednesday. The governor of Kunar province said the airstrike occurred overnight during a joint Nato-Afghan operation in the Shigal district. Sayed Fazelullah Wahidi also said that a number of insurgents were killed in the strike, but he couldn't give a specific number.
The international military alliance in Kabul said it was looking into the reports.
‘We are definitely aware of the allegations of these civilian casualties,’ said Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force, as the alliance is known. ‘We take these allegations very seriously and we are in the process of determining the circumstances surrounding this incident.’ The killing of civilians at the hands of US and other foreign forces has been one of the most contentious issues in the 11-year war.
The UN body monitoring the rights of children said last week that attacks by US military forces in Afghanistan, including airstrikes, have reportedly killed hundreds of children over the last four years. The Geneva-based Committee on the Rights of the Child said the casualties were ‘due notably to reported lack of precautionary measures and indiscriminate use of force.’ ISAF, which is composed mainly of American forces, dismissed that claim, saying that it takes special care to avoid civilian casualties.
KARZAI REGIME WELCOMES US TROOPS WITHDRAWAL
The Afghan government on Wednesday welcomed President Barack Obama's announcement that the United States will withdraw 34,000 troops from the war-torn country over the next year. ‘We welcome this,’ defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told AFP. ‘We will take all security responsibilities by the end of 2013. ‘Our troops will replace them.’ Afghan President Hamid Karzai has long supported the scheduled withdrawal of US and NATO combat troops by the end of 2014, saying Afghan forces are capable of taking responsibility for the fight against Taliban insurgents.
Obama, who made the troop withdrawal announcement during his State of the Union address, said the drawdown would continue and ‘by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over’. The Taliban dismissed the troop pull-out as insufficient. ‘The problem is not going to be solved with reducing or increasing the number of troops,’ Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. ‘As long as the invading forces remain in Afghanistan, the jihad (holy war) continues. The problem is solved with the complete withdrawal of the invading forces and returning Afghanistan back to Afghans.’ Obama's move effectively halves the size of the current 66,000-strong US force in Afghanistan, as NATO troops prepare to hand over control for security operations.
The international military alliance in Kabul said it was looking into the reports.
‘We are definitely aware of the allegations of these civilian casualties,’ said Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force, as the alliance is known. ‘We take these allegations very seriously and we are in the process of determining the circumstances surrounding this incident.’ The killing of civilians at the hands of US and other foreign forces has been one of the most contentious issues in the 11-year war.
The UN body monitoring the rights of children said last week that attacks by US military forces in Afghanistan, including airstrikes, have reportedly killed hundreds of children over the last four years. The Geneva-based Committee on the Rights of the Child said the casualties were ‘due notably to reported lack of precautionary measures and indiscriminate use of force.’ ISAF, which is composed mainly of American forces, dismissed that claim, saying that it takes special care to avoid civilian casualties.
KARZAI REGIME WELCOMES US TROOPS WITHDRAWAL
The Afghan government on Wednesday welcomed President Barack Obama's announcement that the United States will withdraw 34,000 troops from the war-torn country over the next year. ‘We welcome this,’ defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told AFP. ‘We will take all security responsibilities by the end of 2013. ‘Our troops will replace them.’ Afghan President Hamid Karzai has long supported the scheduled withdrawal of US and NATO combat troops by the end of 2014, saying Afghan forces are capable of taking responsibility for the fight against Taliban insurgents.
Obama, who made the troop withdrawal announcement during his State of the Union address, said the drawdown would continue and ‘by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over’. The Taliban dismissed the troop pull-out as insufficient. ‘The problem is not going to be solved with reducing or increasing the number of troops,’ Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. ‘As long as the invading forces remain in Afghanistan, the jihad (holy war) continues. The problem is solved with the complete withdrawal of the invading forces and returning Afghanistan back to Afghans.’ Obama's move effectively halves the size of the current 66,000-strong US force in Afghanistan, as NATO troops prepare to hand over control for security operations.
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