By Daniel Dombey
The Financial Times, 29 July 2007
Nato plans to use smaller bombs in Afghanistan as part of a change in tactics aimed at stemming a rise in civilian casualties that threatens to undermine support in the fight against the Taliban.
The head of the alliance, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, acknowledged in an interview with the Financial Times that mounting civilian casualties had hurt Nato and alliance commanders had recently instructed troops to hold off attacking the Taliban in some situations where civilians were at risk.
“We realise that, if we cannot neutralise our enemy today without harming civilians, our enemy will give us the opportunity tomorrow,” he said, adding that Gen Dan McNeill, the commander of Nato’s 35,000 troops in Afghanistan, had given the new instructions to his troops. “If that means going after a Taliban not on Wednesday but on Thursday, we will get him then.”
Mr de Hoop Scheffer indicated that the alliance was also planning to use smaller bombs in certain instances. He said Nato was “working with weapons load on aircraft to reduce collateral damage” although it was impossible to avoid civilian casualties entirely.
“If you put a 250kg bomb rather than 500kg bomb on the plane that could make a huge amount of difference,” said a Nato diplomat. Other Nato officials say that the alliance will also increasingly leave house-to-house searches to the Afghan army to reduce the risks of confrontation.
In June, the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, a coalition of more than 90 aid agencies, said at least 230 Afghan civilians had been killed by western troops this year. The rate has been increasing. Aid agencies say that in 2006 the number of civilians killed by both sides was 700-1,000, the highest figure since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.
Last week, Massimo D’Alema, Italy’s foreign minister, said the civilian casualties were “not acceptable on a moral level” and “disastrous on a political level”. Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s president, has warned the western forces against treating Afghan lives as “cheap”.
However, the facts are often difficult to establish. On Friday, an Afghan member of parliament said 50 to 60 civilians had been killed in a fight between Nato and the Taliban in Helmand province – primarily because of the alliance’s bombs. But Nato said it was not aware of such civilian casualty figures.
--------------------------------------
Citation: Daniel Dombey. "Nato plans smaller bombs for Afghanistan," The Financial Times, 29 July 2007.
Original URL: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/44aaa8be-3e01-11dc-8f6a-0000779fd2ac.html
--------------------------------------