Kabul:
Afghan President Hamid Karzai Wednesday warned against the "daily killing" of civilians in NATO-led operations, saying the international force could face "huge problems" if the deaths did not stop.
The statement came after Afghan officials said nine children were killed in an air strike yesterday in the northeastern province of Kunar, which has seen a string of such reported civilian deaths recently.
"I once again point out that NATO and ISAF must focus on terrorist bases and havens or otherwise, with the daily killing of innocent civilians, they will cause huge problems for themselves," Karzai said in a statement issued by his office.
A spokesman for ISAF said a delegation made up of Afghan and ISAF officials had deployed to carry out an investigation into the latest claims. It has previously said that it takes claims of civilian casualties "very seriously" and pledged to investigate the most recent alleged incident "quickly and thoroughly."
Karzai has long insisted that international forces deployed to his war-torn country should focus their efforts on militant hideouts across the border, in neighbouring Pakistan. Karzai also stressed that "Afghan villages are not the bases and havens of terrorism" in his statement, it said. The Western-backed leader is in London, where he is due to visit wounded British soldiers who served in Afghanistan today. The statement was issued by his office in Kabul.
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