PressTV & Infomation & Radio Free Europe & The Guardian – 2011-05-17 00:52:45
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/179661.html
‘NATO Failures Expand Afghan Deaths’
PressTV
KABUL (May 13, 2011) — Intelligence failures of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Afghanistan have reportedly contributed to growing civilian casualties in the war-weary country. NATO has repeatedly claimed its strikes target militants but Afghan people say many civilians have been killed in operations by the Western military alliance, a Press TV correspondent reported on Friday.
Residents of an area in Takhar province said that eleven people, including the agent of a parliamentary candidate, had been killed in a NATO attack last September, although the alliance claimed they killed a Taliban commander.
Experts say the September 2010 case reveals NATO’s inability to investigate civilian casualties after strikes, noting that the recent miscalculations have even received rebuke from previous intelligence chiefs as well as US officials.
Experts believe that NATO’s unfamiliarity with the tribal system of Afghanistan and the rampancy of fighting all over the country has impeded the proper functioning of the military alliance, which is only present in certain areas.
“In the entire Afghanistan since 2001, and even prior to that, policy-makers here did not try to understand the political psychology to Afghanistan and the region; that’s why they are having all of these problems,” Aftab Kazi, a Afghanistan policy analyst said.
US Troops Kill Several Afghan Civilians
PressTV
(May 15, 2011) — American troops have killed several women and children in the troubled eastern Afghanistan amid growing civilian casualties in the war-torn country. Villagers in Kunar Province say the US troops fired rockets at local residents from their military outposts. The children were all girls aged 8 to 15.
Also, a 12-year-old child was reportedly killed and four others were injured in a NATO attack in Kunar on Sunday. In a separate incident on Thursday, a 12-year-old girl was killed in Nangarhar Province after foreign troops hurled a hand grenade towards her. Afghan authorities say they are investigating the attacks.
A NATO spokesman has said the alliance was aware of civilian casualties in Kunar but could not provide further details. On Saturday, hundreds of people took to the streets in the eastern province of Nangarhar following the killing of a teenage boy by NATO troops Friday night.
Nearly three thousands civilians were killed in the Afghan conflict last year. Hundreds of civilians have lost their lives in US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months, with Afghans becoming more outraged over the seemingly endless number of deadly assaults.
Civilian casualties have long been a source of friction between the Afghan government and US-led foreign forces. The loss of civilian lives at the hand of foreign forces has dramatically increased anti-American sentiments in Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan, with civilian and military casualties at record highs, has become the longest war in US history.
The surge in violence comes despite the presence of 150,000 foreign troops engaged in the so-called war on terrorism.
US-led Forces Kill Afghan Teenage Boy
PressTV
(May 14, 2011) — A 12-year-old Afghan boy has been killed by the US-led NATO forces operating in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar. Mohammad Balal, the son of an Afghan soldier, was killed on Friday night in Hesarak town, as foreign forces were carrying out an operation, a Press TV correspondent reported on Friday.
In a separate incident on Thursday, a 12-year-old girl was killed in the same province after foreign troops hurled a hand grenade towards her. Hundreds of Afghan civilians have lost their lives in US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months.
President Hamid Karzai has urged the US-led forces to refrain from bombing Afghan civilians in the name of the so-called war on terrorism. Violence across Afghanistan hit record levels in 2010, making it the year with the most number of civilian and military casualties since the start of the US-led war in 2001.
NATO: US-led Forces Kill Afghan Girl
PressTV
KABUL (May 12, 2011) — The US-led forces in Afghanistan have killed a young Afghan girl and a policeman in the east of the Asian country nearly two months after the foreign forces took the lives of nine Afghan children, NATO says. According to a NATO statement on Thursday, the US-led troops killed the young girl and the policeman in Nangarhar province’s Surkh Rod district on Wednesday during an overnight raid, the Associated Press reported. According to a neighbor, the girl was only 12 years old.
In May, a US-led airstrike in northeast Afghanistan killed nine children, aged between seven and nine, who were collecting firewood. Following the May incident, the US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, announced that Washington was “deeply sorry” for the airstrike in the Kunar province of Afghanistan, saying “These deaths should never have happened.”
Thousands of Afghan people have so far lost their lives as a result of military operations by the foreign troops since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan. Afghan officials, including President Hamid Karzai, have repeatedly condemned the attacks and called for an end to foreign troops’ strikes on Afghan civilians.
Afghan Children Killed in US-led Strike
PressTV
KABUL (May 1, 2011) — A US-led missile strike has killed at least three Afghan children and wounded several others in Afghanistan’s troubled south. US-led forces have shelled civilian houses during a military operation in a district in Logar province, a Press TV correspondent reported on Sunday. One woman and his seven-year-old boy were also injured in the attack. The US-led military alliance has confirmed the incident and casualties.
Meanwhile, scores of tribal leaders staged a protest rally to condemn the attack and to call for an end to deadly attacks on civilians. The United Nations says at least 9,000 Afghan civilians have been killed in violent attacks in Afghanistan since 2007.
Hundreds of Afghan civilians have lost their lives in US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months. The frequent attacks have resulted in growing anti-American sentiments.
Afghan officials have repeated condemned NATO attacks on civilians, calling for an end to such assaults. Civilian casualties have always been a source of friction between the Afghan government and foreign troops. About 150,000 foreign troops are currently stationed in Afghanistan.
Afghans Protest US Killing of Civilians
PressTV
KABUL (May 14, 2011) — Hundreds of angry Afghans have staged a protest in Hesarak district of Nangarhar province against the killing of innocent civilians at the hands of foreign forces. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets on Saturday morning, voicing outrage at the killing of a 12-year-old Afghan boy by the US-led NATO forces, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Mohammad Balal, the son of an Afghan soldier, was killed on Friday night in Hesarak town, as foreign forces were carrying out an operation.
Two people were killed and six others left injured as security forces opened fire at protesters. Witnesses say violence erupted when the protesters tried to move towards the governor’s office. Hesarak governor, Abdul Khalegh Maroof, said some opposition armed men tried to attack the governor’s building.
In a separate incident on Thursday, a 12-year-old girl was killed in the same province after foreign troops hurled a hand grenade towards her. Hundreds of Afghan civilians have lost their lives in US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months. President Hamid Karzai has urged the US-led forces to refrain from bombing Afghan civilians in their so-called war on terrorism. Violence across Afghanistan hit record levels in 2010, making it the year with the highest civilian and military casualties since the start of the US-led war in 2001.
14 Civilians Injured by Taliban Missile
PressTV
KABUL (May 13, 2011) — Fourteen civilians, including women and children, have been injured in a Taliban missile attack in northeastern Afghanistan. During a Taliban attack on a US military base in Kunar province on Friday morning, a missile fired by the militants missed its target and hit a residence, a Press TV correspondent reported. Seven children, who sustained injuries during a wedding ceremony at the residence, were among the injured.
Last March, another tragedy struck Kunar province when a NATO airstrike killed nine children. Pundits have been quick to point out that the rise in civilian casualties in NATO attacks has strained relations between President Hamid Karzai and his Western allies, who are under increasing pressure at home over the unpopular war.
Over the past few months, public opinion has been turning against the war in the United States and other countries, and thus US President Barack Obama’s upbeat assessments about progress in the Afghan war will probably not go down well at home or abroad
According to official figures, around 2,451 US-led soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001. The death toll for foreign forces deployed in Afghanistan was 710 in 2010, making it the deadliest year for the occupiers.
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