US forces must get out of Afghanistan as soon as possible

A senior member of Afghanistan’s National Peace Council says the solution to the US killing of Afghan civilians is not investigation but the immediate withdrawal of US forces from the country.

The comment comes as Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into a night raid carried out in eastern Afghanistan by US-led foreign troops, which led to the death of three Afghan brothers.

The order came after an Afghan governor confirmed the operation and said the victims had been in a taxi when foreign forces opened fire on them in Logar province late Saturday.

Over the past few months, night raids by the US-led forces have resulted in civilian casualties in Afghanistan. The raids have increased tension between Washington and Kabul.

Afghans have expressed outrage at the attacks by holding demonstrations throughout the country.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Muhammad Daoud Abedi, Chairman of Afghan National Peace Council, to further discuss the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Many thanks for joining us here on Press TV Mr. Abedi. Now it is interesting how after each incident that we see in Afghanistan where civilian casualties may be involved the Afghan government launches a probe. We’ve seen probe after probe after probe but nothing really has come of it. What do you make of all this?

Abedi: Bismillahe Rahmane Rahim. Unfortunately this situation once again as usual has happened three brothers by the name of Mohammad Na’im, Mohammad Na’im and Mohammad Fareed who were Iron workers and they were invited to one of their fourth brothers in another village. They were going there when they came under attack of the occupation forces and they were all martyred.

Unfortunately this type of incident has happened through the course of eleven or twelve years of war in Afghanistan and these investigations have been announced but we never ever have heard the result of these investigations; if you recall in Farah province 103 people in a case or 53 in another number were killed on the spot as they were bombed. But the investigation until today we didn’t hear the results of what is happening.

Unfortunately the reason of these kinds of cowardly attacks, there are two reasons for them: One, it is revenge; some of these soldiers are taking revenge for their buddies that have unfortunately been killed in Afghanistan.

The second thing is that they’re too fearful of the Afghan nation the so called blue on green and green on blue has also scared them now they’re scared of their shadows. Every person that they see that comes towards them they think that this is Mujahedin, they’re going to fight and they’re going to kill us, the NATO forces have claimed in this incident in Logar province in Baraki Barak which these three brothers have been killed. They have claimed that these three people were laying mines on the ground. The question comes to mind here that where are the mines? If these people who are killed, there should be evidence of what they are doing. No evidence has been provided to the Afghan authorities.

And this claim that these people are civilian people is not by anybody other than the security chief of that district which is Baraki Barak. So now we don’t know who to believe, should we believe NATO forces or should we believe the Afghan forces who are in charge of the security in that area?

But the real thing is that this is a cowardly attack on the Afghan nation as usual. Hundreds of Afghans have been killed this way in the past eleven years. There have been bombings in funerals, there have been bombings inside houses that children and women have been present in.

But the same answer as you said investigation is not going to help. Yes you will investigate this but we will be witness to this Press TV and other media that this will happen again and we will have the same answer again.

The result and solving of this problem is that the occupation forces must get out of Afghanistan as quickly as possible so the Afghan nation can live in peace and these kinds of accidents will not happen that is my suggestion.