Asia-Pacific

Troops keep watch over Afghan capital

(AP)
Updated: 2006-05-30 20:28

Afghans often complain about what they call the aggressive driving tactics of the U.S. military. Convoys often pass through crowded areas at high speed and sometimes disregard road rules. The U.S. military says such tactics are necessary to protect the troops from attack.

"There was a traffic jam and all the vehicles were stopped," said one witness, 21-year old shopkeeper Mohammad Wali. "The American convoy hit all the vehicles which were on the way. They didn't care about the civilians at all."

Patience with the 23,000 U.S. soldiers and other foreign troops in Afghanistan is also fraying over recent deaths of civilians, including at least 16 people killed by an airstrike targeting Taliban fighters in a southern village last week.

The risk of civilian casualties appears to have increased amid some of the deadliest combat between security forces and militants since U.S.-led forces ousted the hard-line Taliban regime in late 2001.

As many as 372 people have died in fighting since May 17, mostly militants who have been killed in airstrikes, according to Afghan and coalition figures.

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, which keeps track of coalition attacks that result in civilian deaths, said at least 135 Afghans have been killed by coalition fire since it started keeping track in mid-2003, though it does not consider its records complete.

An Associated Press estimate of civilian deaths during major combat — from the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion in October 2001 until about February 2002 — found that between 500 and 600 civilians were killed in that period. Other estimates put the toll much higher.

In the time since then, an AP count based on figures from Afghan officials, the coalition and witnesses shows at least 180 civilians have died during coalition military action.

Karzai took the unusual step last week of summoning the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, and telling him "every effort" should be made to ensure civilians' safety.