Afghan President
Hamid Karzai says his people don't need foreign troops to protect the country,
urging U.S.-led forces to withdraw quickly.
'We are the
owners of this soil, Americans aren't,' Karzai said in a speech to young Afghan
military officers in Kabul on Saturday.
'Fortunately
they are leaving soon,' he said about the foreign troops deployed against
al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks of
2001.
Karzai also
instructed the Afghan military forces taking over from NATO-led troops not to
request strikes from aircraft operated by foreign forces.
The president
was addressing hundreds of Afghan military officials and officers in an event
held under tight security in a newly constructed military
academy.
'To defend our
soil, we don't need foreign troops,' Karzai insisted to applause from the
audience. 'My soil will be defended by these young
officers.'
Ties between
Karzai and Washington have soured during the more than decade-long military
campaign, with Afghanistan angered by civilian casualties in the war and the
U.S. complaining of widespread corruption under Karzai's
rule.
On Wednesday, 10
Afghan civilians including women and children were killed in a NATO airstrike in
eastern Kunar province, according to local officials, while Karzai put the death
toll at 14 civilians.
Karzai said he
had called the new U.S. troop commander, General Joseph Dunford, for
clarification on the casualties, and said that Afghan forces had requested the
airstrike.
'I make the announcement today that no Afghan military and security force can request foreigners' warplanes to bomb our own villages and houses,' Karzai said. AAP
Civilian
casualties caused by NATO forces are a highly sensitive issue in Afghanistan and
are regularly condemned by President Hamid Karzai. AFP According to the
U.N., 13,431 civilians were killed in the Afghan conflict between 2007, when the
U.N. began keeping statistics, and the end of August, 2012. Going back to the
U.S.-led invasion in 2001, most estimates put the number of Afghan civilian
deaths in the war at more than 20,000. USA Today Attacks by U.S.
military forces in Afghanistan, including air strikes, have reportedly killed
hundreds of children over the last four years, according to the U.N. body
monitoring the rights of children. AP The Geneva-based
Committee on the Rights of the Child told the United States this week that it is
"alarmed at reports of the death of hundreds of children as a result of attacks
and air strikes by the U.S. military forces in Afghanistan."
AP
AHT/ARA
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