Qalat Provincial Reconstruction team members talk with a local Afghan near the "Qalat to Mizan" road project, a 70-mile highway artery in southwestern Afghanistan. Air Force photo Afghan President Karzai Blames Western Forces
For New 14 Deaths -- L.A. Times
For New 14 Deaths -- L.A. Times
14 men guarding a road construction project were killed Sunday. Karzai says the deaths were unnecessary, but the Interior Ministry and the U.S. military say the men fired at coalition forces.
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Istanbul, Turkey -- Tensions between Western forces and the government of President Hamid Karzai flared anew today when the Afghan leader and a provincial governor accused the U.S.-led coalition of killing 14 Afghans who were guarding a road-construction project.
Karzai has repeatedly demanded that Western troops take urgent measures to avoid killing and injuring Afghan civilians. Recent high-profile instances of civilian casualties have inflamed public sentiment not only against foreign forces in Afghanistan, but against the U.S.-backed government as well.
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My Comment: The Afghan Government appears to be reacting before all the information has come in .... or they are reacting this way because they do not trust what NATO is now telling them when civilian casualties occur. Either way .... this is bad for moral and public support.