Afghan leader condemns NATO air strike as Gates arrives

Afghan President Hamid Karzai strongly condemned an air strike by NATO-led forces which he said killed 10 campaign workers for this month’s election, a sour note as US Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived for talks.

Civilian casualties caused by foreign forces while hunting militants have been a major source of tension between Karzai and his Western allies.

Gates’s arrival also came amid renewed concern over corruption, one of Washington’s biggest concerns in Afghanistan, after two officials from the country’s top private bank left their positions amid allegations of graft.

Gates flew into the Afghan capital from Iraq, where he attended ceremonies to mark the end of US combat operations.

That milestone has thrown the US military focus back onto Afghanistan, where violence has reached its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, despite the presence of almost 150,000 foreign troops, most of them American.

Gates was due to meet Karzai later on Thursday. He also saw US General David Petraeus, commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan and US ambassador Karl Eikenberry, and will visit US troops.

Thursday’s attack happened in the Rostaq district of Takhar, a spokesman for the provincial governor said, a province in the north near Tajikistan that has been relatively peaceful, unlike Taliban strongholds in the south and east.

Spokesman Faiz Mohammad Tawhidi said the candidate, Abdul Wahid, and some of his supporters were wounded in the air strike. Tawhidi said he had been told of the strike by security officials.

Strikes ‘not effective”

A statement issued by the presidential palace said NATO aircraft had conducted the strike.

“The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ... strongly condemned this attack, saying air bombardments in the villages of Afghanistan will only end up killing civilians and will not be effective in the fight against terrorism,” it said.

At about the same time, a statement issued by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said coalition forces had conducted a precision air strike against a senior member of the militant group, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

It said one vehicle travelling in a six-car convoy was hit and that “initial reflections” indicated eight to 12 insurgents were killed or wounded, including a Taliban commander.

“We’re aware of the allegations that this strike caused civilian casualties and we’ll do our best to get to the bottom of the accusations,” the statement quoted US Marine Corps Major General David Garza as saying.

“What I can say is these vehicles were nowhere near a populated area and we’re confident this strike hit only the targeted vehicle after days of tracking the occupants’ activity.”

Increased violence and fears of corruption are threatening the September 18 parliamentary poll, with four candidates and up to 13 campaign workers and supporters killed in recent weeks.

Corruption is a common complaint among Afghans. Washington fears widespread graft boosts the Taliban-led insurgency and complicates efforts to strengthen central government control so US and other foreign troops can begin withdrawing.

“President Karzai is the first to note that more has to be done,” Gates told reporters travelling with him after meeting Petraeus, adding recent frictions had been resolved.

“I feel it’s a good relationship because we can have candid conversations, forthright conversations about important issues.”

The Sept. 18 election is seen as a crucial test of stability for Afghanistan and for the US-led Afghan war ahead of President Barack Obama’s strategy review in December.

Two more US troops killed

In the southeast, Afghan and coalition troops fought off an attack on a combat outpost in Paktika province near the border with Pakistan, killing at least 20 insurgents in air strikes, ISAF said, the third such attack in five days.

Foreign military deaths in Afghanistan have reached record levels this year, with at least 490 killed so far this year compared with 521 in all of 2009. Two more US troops were killed in attacks in the east and south on Thursday, ISAF said.

But civilians have borne the brunt of the violence.

Last month, a UN report said civilian casualties had risen by 31 per cent in the first six months of 2010 compared with the same period last year, with more than three-quarters of them caused by insurgents.

Those caused by “pro-government forces” dropped dramatically, the report said, mainly because of a reduction in those caused by aerial strikes after commanders tightened engagement rules.