KABUL — The American commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan telephoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai to apologize for an airstrike that killed a 2-year-old child and badly wounded two others, a coalition official said Friday.
Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. “expressed deep regret” for the casualties, the official said, and promised a joint investigation into circumstances surrounding the attack Thursday.
Dunford made the call late Thursday after Karzai denounced the United States, saying it has repeatedly shown disregard for the lives of Afghan civilians.
The airstrike, which Karzai said was from a American drone aircraft, came at a tense moment in U.S.-Afghan relations. Karzai warned this week that if one more Afghan civilian was killed by American forces, he would never sign a proposed post-2014 security agreement.
Citing civilian casualties from so-called “night raids” on Afghan homes by U.S. special operations forces, Karzai has delayed signing the 10-year agreement even after agreeing to the proposed 24-page text. He indicated that he considered the airstrike Thursday sufficient cause to scrap the accord.
Karzai said a child was killed and two women badly wounded in the airstrike, and coalition officials did not dispute him.
Even with Dunford’s apology, the standoff over the security pact seemed to harden Friday, given the latest civilian casualties and Karzai’s repeated outbursts condemning the U.S.
An official with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, confirmed that the airstrike killed one civilian and wounded two others. The official said an aircraft fired two missiles at a mid-level Taliban commander riding a motorcycle in southern Helmand Province. The first missile missed and struck civilians near the road.
