UN confirms 90 civilians killed in Afghanistan air strikes

The United Nations yesterday confirmed Afghan government claims that 90 civilians were killed by US-led coalition air strikes in the west of the country last week.

Kai Eide, the UN special representative in Afghanistan, said investigators had interviewed locals in the Azizabad area of Shindand district in Herat and found "convincing evidence" that about 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children.

The incident - which, if true, has claimed one of the worst civilian casualties since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 - had prompted President Hamid Karzai on Monday to order a full review of the presence of foreign troops.

"The destruction from aerial bombardment was clearly evident with some seven to eight houses having been totally destroyed and serious damage to many others," Mr Eide said in a statement.

"Local residents were able to confirm the number of casualties, including names, age and gender of the victims," he said. "This is a matter of grave concern to the United Nations. I have repeatedly made clear that the safety and welfare of civilians must be considered above all else during all military operations."

Mr Eide warned that such operations undermine the "trust and confidence of the Afghan people".

The US military initially defended its position that the strikes in the south of Herat province, where Taliban militants are active, had been carried out on a legitimate target and that few civilians had been killed. US forces are carrying out their own investigation, and did not comment yesterday.

The death of civilians is political poison for Mr Karzai's embattled government. His apparent inability to rein in Nato and US forces undermines his credibility as he prepares for next year's re-election campaign.

Mr Karzai has ordered the ministries of foreign affairs and defence to review the presence of foreign troops, regulate their presence with a status of forces agreement and negotiate a possible end to "air strikes on civilian targets, unco-ordinated house searches and illegal detention of Afghan civilians". "The government of Afghanistan has repeatedly discussed the issue of civilian casualties with the international forces and asked for all air raids on civilian targets, especially in Afghan villages, to be stopped," the government statement said.

"The issues of unco-ordinated house searches and harassing civilians have also been of concern to the government," it said.

The statement did not distinguish between the US-led counter-terrorism effort in Afghanistanand Nato's UN mandated International Security Assistance Force. Foreign forces are also acutely aware of the damage done by such episodes, used by the Taliban as a recruitment tool in propaganda.

*The use of ground forces to destroy poppy crops in Afghanistan should be abandoned, the UN's top anti-drugs officer said yesterday.

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