AfghanistanAsia-PacificWorld News

NATO chief: Afghan civilian deaths decreasing

NATO’s secretary-general has defended the war in Afghanistan saying support for the mission is still strong, as the alliance faces public ire over civilian deaths.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who spoke at Washington’s Georgetown University late Monday, said NATO troops were doing all they could to minimize the number of Afghan civilians’ casualties.

“It’s not just theory. During recent years our troops in Afghanistan have succeeded in reducing the number of civilian casualties significantly and we have to continue to minimize that number,” the NATO head said.

Rasmussen’s remarks come only two days after a NATO air raid killed 27 civilians, including women and a child, in the central province of Uruzgan.

The strike which targeted three civilian vehicles also left a dozen people wounded.

The incident is considered the third mistaken NATO air strike reported by Afghan officials in a week.

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai has condemned the attacks as “unjustifiable.”

Meanwhile the commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal has for a second time in a week apologized for the civilian deaths.

The incident was not part of Operation Moshtarak (together) — a major NATO-led campaign launched by the United States and Britain, to clear the Taliban militants out of Helmand province in the south.

The recent incident comes as NATO faces the possibility of an imminent withdrawal of nearly 2,000 Dutch troops from southern Afghanistan, following the collapse of the Netherlands’ government amid disputes over extending the Afghan mission.

The Dutch presence in Afghanistan was both symbolically and strategically important for the US-led NATO alliance, and the organization fears that other European allies will follow suit.

Rasmussen however stressed that regardless of the Dutch departure, support for the mission is still strong and that NATO troops are fully committed to the fight.

Leave a Reply

Back to top button