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Karzai to Forbid Afghan Forces From Requesting Foreign Airstrikes Karzai to Forbid Afghan Forces From Requesting Foreign Airstrikes
(about 4 hours later)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that he would issue a decree barring Afghan security forces from asking international troops to carry out airstrikes under “any circumstances.” KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that he would issue a decree forbidding his military forces from turning to NATO or American forces to conduct airstrikes, and he condemned the use of torture on detainees by his security forces.
The announcement came amid anger over a joint Afghan-NATO operation last week that Afghan officials said killed 10 civilians, including women and children, in northeast Kunar Province. He made his comments in a speech at the Afghan National Military Academy in Kabul. It was the first time he had dwelt at such length and with such passion on human rights.
“I will issue a decree tomorrow that no Afghan security forces, in any circumstances, in any circumstances, can ask for the foreigners’ planes for carrying out operations on our homes and villages,” Mr. Karzai said in a speech at the Afghan National Military Academy in Kabul. His proposed ban on Afghan troops from calling in airstrikes came after a joint Afghan-NATO attack last week in Kunar Province, in eastern Afghanistan, that killed four women, one man and five children, all of them civilians, according to local officials.
Civilian deaths at the hands of foreign forces, particularly as a result of airstrikes, have been the cause of much conflict between Afghans and the international coalition, led by the United States, although it has devised measures to prevent them. But the Afghan military also relies heavily on air support to gain an advantage in the fight against Taliban militants and other insurgents. Mr. Karzai said Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the commander of the international coalition forces fighting the Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan, told him that the airstrike had been requested by the National Directorate of Security, the country’s intelligence service. The attack took place in the Shigal district, an area where two known Taliban commanders were visiting family members, Afghan officials have said.
Many analysts have expressed concern that the impending withdrawal of international combat forces by the end of 2014 will deprive government security forces of that crucial weapon. “Our N.D.S. in their own country calls foreigners to assist them and bombard four or five Al Qaeda or Taliban,” Mr. Karzai said.
President Obama said in his State of the Union address last week that he would withdraw about half of the 66,000 American troops in Afghanistan within a year. “It is very regrettable to hear this,” he added. “You are representing Afghan pride. How do you call for an airstrike from foreigners on your people?”
According to Gen. John R. Allen, the former top commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, the coalition can provide air support to troops on the ground anywhere in Afghanistan within 12 minutes of a request. General Allen said Afghan forces would have to get used to not having the same abilities in the future. Civilian casualties in the war on the Taliban has long vexed Mr. Karzai and has been a major point of contention with American and NATO troops. New rules instituted by commanders from the International Security Assistance Force have minimized the loss of life, and the coalition has all but stopped air attacks on populated areas and on homes. The result has been a dramatic drop in civilian casualties caused by foreign forces.
Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for the coalition, declined to comment on Mr. Karzai’s remarks because alliance officials had not yet seen the decree. Nevertheless, Afghan troops, who lack their own air support, still turn to foreign forces for help during pitched battles with the Taliban and other insurgents. It was not clear whether there would be exceptions to Mr. Karzai’s decree, but he was clearly dismayed that his own forces would be employing the very techniques he had worked so hard to persuade the West to abandon.
Mr. Karzai said that General Allen’s successor, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., told him that Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security, had requested the airstrike late Tuesday in the Shigal district of Kunar Province, which borders Pakistan. In an unusual move, the Afghan president also publicly acknowledged that torture was a problem in Afghan detention centers and pledged to halt it. In the past, the government has largely deflected charges of torture raised by human rights organizations, contending that any abuse was the work of a few bad actors.
Local Afghan officials said that five boys, four women and one man were killed in the bombardment. Coalition officials said an investigation was under way. Four insurgents were also reported killed, but Mr. Karzai said that did not justify the loss of so many civilian lives. But after a United Nations report released in January detailed abuses or torture at a number of detention sites around the country, Mr. Karzai took a closer and more independent look at the complaints.
Mr. Karzai said Afghan forces were ready to take over from foreign troops despite concerns about their abilities. He appointed a delegation to investigate the report’s validity, and when the inquiry confirmed many of the allegations, he ordered the security ministries to implement the team’s recommendations. He reiterated that order on Saturday. The recommendations include prosecuting perpetrators of torture, giving detainees access to defense lawyers, providing medical treatment for detainees who are ill or have been beaten, and videotaping all interrogations.
“We are happy that foreign forces are withdrawing from our country,” he said. “We are happy for all their help and assistance so far, but we don’t need foreign forces to defend our country. We want our Afghan forces to defend their homeland.” “Not only have foreigners tormented and punished Afghans, but our people have been terrorized and punished by our own sons too,” Mr. Karzai said. “The U.N. report showed that even after 10 years, our people are tortured and mistreated in prisons.”
However, a former Afghan officer, Gen. Amrullah Aman, expressed surprise over Mr. Karzai’s remarks, saying that international air power was essential since one of the main weaknesses of the Afghan military is the lack of a fully developed air force. The United Nations’ human rights office here emphasized the importance of Mr. Karzai’s attention to the issue.
“In a country like Afghanistan, where you don’t have heavy artillery and you don’t have air forces to support soldiers on the ground, how will it be possible to defeat an enemy that knows the area well and can hide anywhere?” General Aman said. “There must be air support to help all those ground forces on the battlefield.” “It is encouraging that the president appears to be personally taking the issue of human rights of all Afghans seriously,” said Georgette Gagnon, the office’s director of human rights. She added that the government should act immediately on the delegation’s recommendations. “We urge them to do so without delay,” she said.