Strike by coalition forces kills 20 Afghans

This is from the BBC.

This is the second disputed attack in a few days. Karzai has been calling for more co-ordination with the Afghan authorities and criticising these attacks endlessly and without any effect. The U.S. cannot wait to elect a more pliable and perhaps less corrupt puppet president. Karzai has lost his photogenic appeal apparently. It is probably less due to corruption than to his efforts to control his masters a trait that is not to their liking. A possible successor is Zalmay Khalilzad a new U.S. favorite and close to the Bush administration as ambassador to Iraq.



At least 20 people have been killed in a missile strike by coalition forces in Afghan's eastern Nangarhar province.
Local people say that the group was a wedding party and that most of the dead were women and children.
But the US has denied this, saying those killed were militants involved in previous mortar attacks on a Nato base. Meanwhile Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into a missile attack by US helicopters on Friday in which 15 people died.
The BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul says the issue of civilian casualties is hugely sensitive in Afghanistan.
In the past, Mr Karzai has said that no civilian casualty is acceptable.

The latest claim of civilian casualties puts yet more pressure on the Afghan authorities and international forces to get it right when carrying out operations, our correspondent adds.
Deh Bala district governor Hamisha Gul told AFP news agency that 22 people had been killed in the strike - 19 of them women and children - and several more wounded.
He said the information had come from police and other officials investigating the incident in the remote area of Nangarhar province.
A man at a hospital in Jalalabad told AP news agency that the group was a wedding party on its way to the groom's house.
"They stopped in a narrow location for rest. The plane came and bombed the area," he said.
"There were between 80 to 90 people altogether. We have carried six of the injured to this hospital, and more might be coming. The exact number of casualties is not clear."
'No civilians'
However, US military personnel have denied reports that the group were civilians.
Coalition media officer Capt Christian Patterson told AFP they had received no reports of civilian casualties.
"It was not a wedding party, there were no women or children present," he said.
In a separate incident on Friday, 15 civilians were reported to have died in a missile attack in Kunar province.
Mr Karzai has ordered an investigation into the incident, which the US said killed only militants.
A statement released by presidency on Sunday said Mr Karzai "has repeatedly emphasised the (need for) coordination of military operations and has been deeply saddened since learning about this incident".