KANDAHAR - An air strike by international coalition forces is not responsible for the deaths of five Afghans during an operation last week, the commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan says.
Maj.-Gen. Mart de Kruif, who commands more than 30,000 international troops from 17 nations operating in the southern region of Afghanistan, told journalists that early investigations found that the victims suffered gunshot wounds.
"That means that this excludes the (possibility) that these people were wounded by helicopters or air-delivered ordinance that was used by the coalition," de Kruif said through an interpreter at a news conference in Kandahar city.
"Let me make it very clear: These people were not targeted or hit by coalition assets."
The incident in the Shah Wali Kot region of Kandahar province is the latest skirmish in the war for the support of the people who call the war-torn province home.
Last week about a dozen residents of the area were taken to hospital in Kandahar city, claiming they had been injured in the air strike called in to support NATO troops engaged in a fight with Taliban in the village, located about 100 kilometres north.
In hospital bed interviews, some told local journalists that five people were killed in their village, including a four-year-old girl.
The villagers said they didn't know why the area was targeted for an operation, as there is no Taliban presence there.
But de Kruif broke with NATO tradition when he disclosed that 35 insurgents had been confirmed killed in the operation, which did not involve Canadian troops.
"We killed about 35 insurgents and we found a significant amount of IED material -- material that's used to make these improvised explosive devices," he said.
De Kruif said ISAF has asked the International Red Cross to investigate the incident.
Civilian deaths have been an ongoing source of tension between the international coalition and President Hamid Karzai. The United Nations special representative in Afghanistan and Human Rights Watch have also been critical.
The deaths of Afghan citizens caught in the crossfire has also hindered coalition efforts to counter insurgents by winning over the Afghan population, and turning them away from the Taliban.
It's a weakness exploited by the Taliban, said Maj.-Gen. Ghulam Ali Wahdat of the Afghan National Police.
Asked about complaints from Afghans living in Helmand province, where U.S. and British troops have each undertaken massive offensives to rout out the Taliban, Wahdat said the insurgents have been waging an effective propaganda campaign.
They "try to defame" Afghan national security forces and their allies, he said, sitting beside de Krief at the Saturday news conference.
Even for Afghans who do not support the Taliban, there is incentive to blame international troops in crossfire deaths: The possibility of better medical care and even financial compensation if, indeed, they are responsible. In the past, coalition troops have paid Afghans compensation for accidental deaths, in following with the Afghan custom.
For coalition troops, the latest phase of the war focuses intensely on gaining the support of everyday Afghans, and encouraging them to shun the insurgency.
Earlier this month U.S. army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, issued a directive to troops to cut down on civilian casualties.
"Like any insurgency, there is a struggle for the support and will of the population. Gaining and maintaining that support must be our overriding operational imperative - and the ultimate objective of every action we take, McChrystal wrote."
"We will not win based on the number of Taliban we kill, but instead on our ability to separate insurgents from the centre of gravity -- from the people."
The directive did not rule out air strikes, but said their use in residential areas is only allowed under "very limited and prescribed conditions."
The U.S. has promised more troops for Afghanistan, and the U.S. contingent is expected to grow from 57,000 to 68,000 by year's end. With that, comes an increase in military operations, particularly in southern Afghanistan.
De Kruif pointed out the new directive issued by McChrystal earlier this month, which says coalition troops will only use force -- in particular from air strikes -- in situations where soldiers are in desperate need.
"In any other situation, we will not use these weapons."
