Karzai seeks end to NATO operations
March 13, 2011 - 0:0
Afghan President Hamid Karzai says U.S.-led forces must stop operations in his country amid growing discontent between Kabul and Washington over civilian causalities.
Karzai made the remarks in the city of Asadabad where a recent NATO attack left over 70 civilians dead.“I would like to ask NATO and the U.S. with honor and humbleness and not with arrogance to stop their operations in our land,” Karzai said on Saturday.
“We are very tolerant people but now our tolerance has run out,” Karzai added.
The remarks also come days after nine children were killed in a NATO helicopter raid while they were collecting firewood in the eastern province of Kunar.
NATO says the children were mistaken for militants.
President Karzai condemned the killings and U.S. President Barack Obama apologized for the incident.
Afghanistan has also rejected the United States' apology for the death of nine children in a NATO airstrike. Karzai said expressing regret is not sufficient for the killing of the young boys.
His comments also come as U.S.-led forces have recently shot and killed a relative of President Karzai in an attack on his house in Kandahar Province's Dand district in southern Afghanistan.
U.S. Special Forces arrived in helicopter in Karz village and stormed the house of Haji Yar Mohammad Khan on Wednesday night, Press TV has learned.
Moreover, foreign forces have killed two civilians in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
The victims worked for a private company which provides services to Afghan and foreign forces. Eyewitnesses say they were killed in their homes in the city of Jalalabad.
Civilian casualties from U.S.-led operations are a major source of tension between the Afghan government and foreign troops. More than 2,400 civilians are estimated to have been killed in 2010 by both foreign forces and militants.
Insecurity is on the rise across the country despite the presence of over 150,000 U.S.-led forces there.
(Source: Press TV)
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