July 2, 2002
The Afghan government demanded Tuesday that the United States take ``all necessary measures'' to avoid civilian casualties in wake of the bombing of a central Afghan village in which scores were killed.
In an unprecedented statement, the government said President Hamid Karzai ``called officials and commanders of the United States forces to his office and strongly advised them of the grave concern and sorrow over the incident.''
The statement said Karzai insisted that coalition forces ``take all necessary measures to ensure that military activities to capture terrorist groups do not harm innocent Afghan civilians.''
In a press conference, Foreign Minister Abdullah said that coalition military operations against al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives must continue. But he added that the ``whole procedure'' for launching attacks ``should be reviewed to avoid such incidents'' as the Monday bombing around the village of Kakarak in Uruzgan province.
Abdullah said in all, four villages were attacked, killing 40 civilians and injuring about 100. He said all 25 members of one family were killed.
``Strong measures have to be taken to avoid such further incidents,'' he told reporters. ``This situation has to come to an end. Mistakes can take place, human errors are possible, but our people should be assured that every measure was taken to avoid such incidents.''
Abdullah said the ``enemies of peace and stability in Afghanistan'' could exploit such accidents to drum up opposition against coalition forces and the Karzai government.
``There is no explanation that in a country where people have suffered so much under al-Qaida and the Taliban, they continue to suffer as the result of the campaign against al-Qaida,'' Abdullah said.
He repeated allegations that the victims included members of a wedding party but made no mention of any celebratory gunfire which could have been misinterpreted as an attack.
It was the first time the Afghan government has condemned an incident of friendly fire despite several mistakes during operations against the Taliban and al-Qaida.
In an interview last week with The Associated Press, Karzai expressed concern that innocent Afghan civilians are being caught in the cross fire in the war on terrorism.
``I will definitely want the Afghan civilians, the Afghan villages to be immune from accidental damage,'' Karzai said. ``To be sure that they do not receive accidental firing at them. To make sure that our women and children and villages don't suffer.''
In areas of eastern and southern Afghanistan, where U.S. special forces and their coalition allies have focused their war against fugitive al-Qaida and Taliban elements, some villagers say they are being wrongly targeted for arrest or harassment as al-Qaida and Taliban suspects.
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