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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Afghan president says U.S.-caused deaths must end


An elderly Afghan woman wounded during military operations  lies on a bed at a hospital Wednesday in Afghanistan. Afghanistan can no longer accept civilian casualities, President Hamid Karzai said.
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Pamela Constable Washington Post

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan President Hamid Karzai declared Wednesday that his government can “no longer accept” civilian casualties caused by U.S.-led operations, shortly before news spread that as many as 51 civilians may have died during clashes this week in far western Afghanistan.

Civilian deaths are “becoming a heavy burden, and we are not happy about it,” Karzai told reporters here.

His remarks came two days after rioting broke out following a protracted battle in western Herat province, where police said as many as 30 residents had been killed during three days of fighting between U.S.-led forces and Taliban insurgents. Several government buildings were stormed by demonstrators, some of whom were wounded by police in the incidents.

Then, on Wednesday, local officials visiting villages in the battle area, in the Shindand district, reported that 45 to 51 civilians had died and that bodies were still being dug out of mud houses that had collapsed in U.S.-led bombing raids.

“So far the people have buried 45 bodies, and they are still taking out more,” Ghulam Nabi Hakak, the Herat representative of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, said by telephone Wednesday night. “Yesterday they buried 12 children. They told us some women and children ran away and got lost and drowned. The exact number of dead is not clear, but the people are very angry.”

Representatives for the U.S. military said they had no reports of civilian casualties, but that 136 suspected Taliban fighters had been killed in operations in Herat. One spokesman said that he could not comment on specific incidents but that U.S. forces “take every precaution to prevent injury to innocent civilians in every operation we do.”

Public anger has been mounting steadily over a string of civilian deaths over the past month during U.S.-led counterterrorist operations. Increasingly, that anger has been directed both at Karzai and at the international forces that are here to back his government as well as hunt down Islamic insurgents.

In eastern Nangahar province this week, hundreds of demonstrators repeatedly blocked a main highway, accusing U.S.-led forces of killing six civilians, including a woman and child, during a counterinsurgency raid. Some students burned President Bush in effigy and shouted “Death to America,” and demanded that Karzai resign.

Karzai, who has previously expressed regret for such deaths but continued to praise U.S.-led forces for their work in combating insurgents, displayed frustration and anguish when he met with journalists Wednesday after returning from a fence-mending meeting in Ankara, Turkey, with Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

“The intention may be very good to fight terrorism, sometimes mistakes are made, but five years on, it is very difficult for us to continue to accept civilian casualties,” Karzai said. “It’s not understandable anymore.” He said he had worked hard to improve coordination between foreign and Afghan forces, especially during raids on villages. “Unfortunately, that has not given results, and we are not happy about that.”