SFGATE VIA AP
By Rahim Faiez and Kathy Gannon - AP
03/06/2014
Unusually reticent, Afghan President Hamid Karzai did not immediately condemn the international troops, telling reporters during a state visit to Sri Lanka that the incident is being investigated.
"This attack, NATO has admitted to me they did it mistakenly. We will investigate the issue and then speak about it," Karzai said. He added that he would speak much differently, presumably in harsher tones, if he were addressing reporters in his own country.
Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said the strike occurred in the province's Chakh district, and that eight Afghan National Army troops were also wounded in the incident. The ministry's helicopters ferried the wounded to Kabul, he told The Associated Press.
A spokeswoman for the international forces in Afghanistan, Maj. Cathleen Snow, described the killings as an "unfortunate incident" during an operation in the country's east.
Snow did not specify whether an airstrike was involved and did not elaborate on the operation.
"We can confirm that at least five Afghan National Army personnel were accidentally killed this morning," Snow wrote in an email to the AP. "Our condolences go out to the families of the ANA soldiers who lost their lives and were wounded."
Earlier, a provincial government official said that 17 soldiers were wounded in the airstrike but the discrepancy in the number of wounded could not immediately be reconciled. The Logar official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
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Physical, moral coward, CIA murdering filth John Brennan |
Neither NATO nor Kabul officials would say whether Afghan troops had called in the airstrike, as they often do in battle when air power is needed.
Karzai has been deeply critical of civilian deaths by international forces and his relationship with Washington has been on a downward spiral for several years. But in the last year, Karzai's language has become much harsher. He has accused the international troops of being occupiers, colluding with the Taliban insurgents and carelessly killing Afghan civilians.
The testy relationship has kept Karzai from signing a security agreement with the United States that would allow for a residual force of U.S. and NATO troops to stay behind in Afghanistan after the end of December, when all international forces are to leave the country in an ending to the 13 years of war.
Karzai has cited civilian casualties as one of his reasons for refusing to sign the deal. He has sought guarantees from the United States to protect Afghan citizens.
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Obama and his murdering CIA swine will soon to face justice |
Previously, Karzai had ordered an end to all coalition air strikes unless they were first cleared by the defense ministry.
The president's decree banned airstrikes in residential areas, Azimi said, at the same time stressing that the Afghan army needs NATO's air power.
"For air support, we always need the support of NATO forces," said Azimi. "The worries of the president, Ministry of Defense and the Afghan people are (about) civilian casualties in an airstrike. Therefore, the president issued a decree not to have any airstrikes in residential areas."
Azimi refused to say whether NATO had first contacted the ministry before carrying out Thursday's airstrike, in keeping with Karzai's demands.
Associated Press Writer Krishan Francis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, contributed to this report.