KABUL, Afghanistan — In a stark warning to U.S. forces, the Afghan government said it will try to regulate the presence of U.S. troops and their use of airstrikes, while the U.N. on Tuesday announced that “convincing evidence” exists that an American-led operation killed 90 civilians.
The U.N. sent in a team of investigators, who relied solely on villagers’ statements in alleging the American-led operation in the western province of Herat on Friday killed 60 children and 30 adults. The U.S. military stood by its account, that 25 militants and five civilians were killed in the operation.
“I don’t have any information that would suggest that our military commanders in Afghanistan don’t believe, still, that this was a legitimate strike on a Taliban target,” Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said in Washington.
The U.N. allegation came a day after President Hamid Karzai’s government said it would try to put more controls on the way American and NATO troops operate in response to a series of airstrikes and other operations this summer that have caused the deaths of scores of civilians.
Afghanistan’s Council of Ministers ordered the ministries of defense and foreign affairs to open negotiations with the U.S. and NATO over the use of airstrikes, house searches and the detentions of Afghan civilians. It also called for a “status of force” agreement to regulate troops’ presence.
Afghanistan’s effort to rein in foreign forces is similar to steps taken by the Iraqi government, which has demanded a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and greater control of U.S. operations until their departure.
