Two U.S. Army soldiers stand on a M777 Lightweight 155-mm Howitzer as they prepare to hook the cargo slings to CH-47 Chinook helicopter during an airlift mission at Forward Operating Base Fenty in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Dec. 20, 2007. The howitzer will be airlifted to troops in the field. DoD photo by Sgt. Brandon Aird, U.S. Army. (Released)From International Herald Tribune:
NATO said on Wednesday it had further tightened its rules of engagement in Afghanistan to cut civilian casualties but accused the Taliban of causing the vast majority of the hundreds of civilian deaths seen last year.
Nearly 700 civilians were killed in 2008 up to October in raids by foreign and Afghan forces, an Afghan rights body said last month, quoting a U.N. estimate.
Raids by foreign forces on homes and mosques are a major source of resentment against the more than 60,000 NATO and U.S.-led coalition troops in the country.
A directive by NATO's commander in Afghanistan, U.S. General David McKiernan, stresses the need for proportionate use of force and for Afghan forces to take the lead in searching Afghan homes and religious sites unless a clear danger is identified.
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