Reuters, 30 October 2006
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading human rights group on Monday urged NATO to do more to avoid civilian casualties in Afghanistan, saying reports of increasing civilian deaths were "turning the local population against" the Western alliance.
Fighting between NATO forces and a resurgent Taliban this year has been the bloodiest since U.S.-led forces removed the strict Islamist movement from power after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Afghan authorities are investigating allegations that about 60 civilians were killed last week as a result of NATO operations in Kandahar province, where the Taliban was born. Local leaders and villagers said dozens more were wounded and 25 houses were razed during several hours of NATO bombing.
"NATO's tactics are increasingly endangering the civilians that they are supposed to be protecting, and turning the local population against them," said Sam Zarifi, Asia research director for New York-based Human Rights Watch.
"While NATO forces try to minimize harm to civilians, they obviously are not doing enough," he added in the statement, which also called on NATO forces to compensate Afghans who have lost family members, been injured or suffered property damage because of their actions.
NATO supreme military commander for Europe, U.S. Marine Gen. James Jones, last week apologized to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the incident, saying the bombing took place in "the fog and heat of war" and blaming the Taliban for using villagers as human shields.
Suicide attacks by the Taliban and other militant groups have jumped this year, killing more than 200 people compared with 50 to 60 in all of 2005.
A NATO official said the alliance was working closely with the Afghan government in its investigation of last week's incident but was not carrying out its own independent probe.
Human Rights Watch said it supported the Afghan effort but called on NATO to either conduct its own probe or to allow independent, international experts to investigate and make their findings public.
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Citation: "Civilian deaths turn Afghans against NATO: report," Reuters, 30 October 2006.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061030/wl_nm/afghanistan_casualties_dc
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