Karzai claims civilian deaths in NATO air strikes could undermine Strategic Partnership agreement

Just recently Obama paid a secret visit to Afghanistan to sign a Strategic Partnership Deal governing the U.S. continuing presence and support for Afghanistan from 2014 to 2024. Now Karzai claims that the deal is being undermined by recent NATO air strikes that have killed civilians.

This is probably simply political rhetoric that Karzai finds necessary in order to keep some semblance of legitimacy in the eyes of the public. There is an analogous situation in Pakistan where the parliament passes motions demanding drone strikes stop but they continue. However, Karzai is unpredictable and it is possible if pushed far enough he may feel forced to act.

Karzai said:“If the lives of Afghan people are not safe, the signing of the strategic partnership has no meaning,” Karzai again demanded that NATO stop air strikes in populated areas and bombing homes that might have civilians inside. NATO has refused to change course.

Afghanistan is an occupied country and the government and military are dependent upon foreign payments to function. Even after 2014 the Afghan government will require much over a billion a year to finance the military.

The Strategic Partnership deal does on paper give some control over night raids but only certain types of raids. This is no doubt meant to make it look as if Karzai has won concessions whereas in reality independent raids by the U.S. will continue as before the agreement . The NATO policy at present is unchanged with the inevitable collateral damage that follows. No doubt these raids help the Taliban recruit fighters. For more see this article.

NATO strike kills six civilians in Afghanistan

This is from antiwar.com.

Duh! The officials do acknowledge that a wounded one year old may have been a civilian. Right, some of those one year old Afghan babes tote grenades rather than rattles so maybe the child may not have been a civilian! No doubt the local police chief is a member of the Taliban but they missed him in the attack!
These air attacks are meant to avoid NATO casualties. Of course Afghan casualties are not even counted by the occupiers. Note that the nationality of the planes that attacked are not given. Probably it was US planes. In a tribal society where revenge is a duty these attacks simply serve as recruiting tools for the Taliban.


Officials: NATO Strike Kills Six Civilians in Afghanistan
Kunar Province Attack Also Wounded 16, Mostly Children
by Jason Ditz, April 13, 2009

Provincial officials say a NATO air strike carried out in the Kunar Province overnight has killed six civilians, including two children, and wounded 16 others, most of them also children. The attack destroyed three homes in the restive province, and a three year old girl and 10 year old boy were among those killed.

The NATO forces said they attacked the area based on “multiple intelligence source” and said they saw “no evidence of a civilian presence.” Though they maintain all those killed were “enemy fighters,” they acknowledge now that some of the wounded, including a one-year old, may have been civilians. The district police chief says all the casualties, both dead and wounded, were innocent civilians.

The international forces were already under some uncomfortable scrutiny after a raid last week in the nearby Khost Province killed four relatives of an Afghan military officer. In that incident too the international forces initially touted the killings of “combatants” though they eventually conceded that all those killed, including the unborn baby shot in the womb were not believed to to be involved in militant activities.

As violence in the struggling nation continues to rise, US and NATO forces have launched a growing number of raids, and a large portion of them end up killing mostly, or exclusively, innocent civilians. The rising toll has undermined popular support for the military presence and has created a rift between the international forces and the government....