NATO seeks to calm Afghans after deadly air strike

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KUNDUZ, Sept 5 (Reuters): NATO officers met air strike victims and their families in Afghanistan Saturday and their commander took to the TV airwaves in a bid to cool anger over an incident that undermines efforts to win hearts and minds.
Afghan officials say scores of people were killed, many of them civilians, when a US F-15 fighter jet called in by German troops struck two hijacked fuel trucks before dawn Friday.
NATO hopes to avert a backlash over the incident, which comes two months after the new US and NATO commander, General Stanley McChrystal, ordered new procedures that require extra precautions to protect civilians before troops can open fire.
In an unprecedented televised address to the Afghan people, McChrystal said the attack was launched against what troops thought was a Taliban target. He promised to make the outcome of an investigation public.
"As Commander of the International Security Assistance Force, nothing is more important than the safety and protection of the Afghan people," he said in the taped address, released in versions dubbed into the two official languages, Dari and Pashtu.
"I take this possible loss of life or injury to innocent Afghans very seriously."
At the central hospital in the city of Kunduz, Shaifullah, a boy of 6 or 7 with an arm and a leg bandaged from severe burns, lay in a tiny, foul-smelling hospital room, crammed with beds and swarming with flies.
"I went to get the fuel with everybody else, and then the bombs fell on us," the boy told a delegation led by US Navy Rear Admiral Greg Smith, head of public affairs for the 103,000 US and NATO troops in Afghanistan.
American and German officers nodded, some taking notes.
The attack took place in Kunduz, a northern province that had been largely quiet since the Taliban were toppled in 2001, but has recently seen a sudden upsurge in attacks, with fighters seizing control of remote areas.
The area is patrolled by NATO's 4,000-strong German contingent, who are banned by Berlin from operating in combat zones in other parts of the country.
Later Saturday morning, a bomb hit a German convoy near the city, yet another sign of mounting Taliban violence in the area. A Reuters reporting team saw damaged vehicles. Germany said a suicide bomber had wounded four German soldiers in the strike.
Germany has confirmed that a German commander approved the air raid and the incident could intensify a debate about the war, which is unpopular back home. Germany holds a general election in three weeks and both major political parties are defending the German role in the war to a skeptical public.