Afghan president vows to regulate foreign troops
Saturday, 25 July 2009
KABUL, July 24 (Reuters): Afghan President Hamid Karzai, setting out his election manifesto, vowed Friday to make foreign troops sign a framework governing how they operate in a bid to limit civilians casualties.
Karzai, widely criticised for withdrawing from a televised debate with two of his main rivals in the August 20 presidential election the previous night, unveiled a manifesto covering foreign troops, talks with insurgents and reconstruction.
Civilian casualties caused by US and NATO operations, particularly air strikes, became a source of increasing outrage among ordinary Afghans and their leaders this year, even as insurgent violence hit its worst levels in the eight-year-old war.
"We need to make an agreement to put the movements of foreign troops into a legitimate Afghan framework," Karzai told a campaign gathering in Kabul.
"NATO and America are our allies in the war against terrorism but we also want protection, honor, dignity and respect of our religion from our friends," he said.
General Stanley McChrystal, the new commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, issued a new tactical directive this month stressing the importance of avoiding civilian casualties and limiting air strikes against residential compounds.
Karzai, widely criticised for withdrawing from a televised debate with two of his main rivals in the August 20 presidential election the previous night, unveiled a manifesto covering foreign troops, talks with insurgents and reconstruction.
Civilian casualties caused by US and NATO operations, particularly air strikes, became a source of increasing outrage among ordinary Afghans and their leaders this year, even as insurgent violence hit its worst levels in the eight-year-old war.
"We need to make an agreement to put the movements of foreign troops into a legitimate Afghan framework," Karzai told a campaign gathering in Kabul.
"NATO and America are our allies in the war against terrorism but we also want protection, honor, dignity and respect of our religion from our friends," he said.
General Stanley McChrystal, the new commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, issued a new tactical directive this month stressing the importance of avoiding civilian casualties and limiting air strikes against residential compounds.