U.S. defends airstrikes on village

Women and children were killed in the attacks.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The U.S. military insisted Monday that airstrikes on a southern village, which killed at least 17 Afghan civilians, were a legitimate attack on scores of Taliban militants.
In addition to the civilian deaths, as many as 80 members of Taliban militia were killed by the bombardment in the early morning darkness Monday in the village of Azizi, in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province, a U.S. military statement said. Only 20 of the Taliban deaths were confirmed, the statement added, and five Taliban members were detained for interrogation.
President's complaints
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has complained for more than two years that U.S. airstrikes which injure or kill civilians undermine his efforts at reconciliation. And after four years of war in southern and eastern Afghanistan, the insurgency is spreading.
After last fall's largely peaceful parliamentary elections, Karzai said it was time for a change of tactics, and called on U.S.-led forces to "concentrate on where terrorists are trained, on their bases, on the supplies to them, on the money coming to them."
In response to questions about Monday's bombing, Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, a U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, said in a statement that "coalition forces are aware of media reports of civilian casualties and are continuing to review assessments from ground elements in the region."
For the third time in a week, U.S.-led forces were pursuing Taliban fighters "suspected of terrorist and anti-Afghanistan activities," the spokesman said. "However, during the operation, coalition forces encountered organized armed opposition." Ground forces backed up by U.S. warplanes "engaged the extremists, who were firing on coalition troops and endangering innocent civilians," he added.
"The coalition only targeted armed resistance, compounds and buildings known to harbor extremists," the statement said.
Blamed Taliban
Kandahar Governor Assadullah Khalid said the airstrikes killed 17 civilians, including women and children, and injured 15 other noncombatants. But he blamed the Taliban.
The governor maintained Taliban militants had taken up positions in the villagers' houses after fleeing an attack on their hide-out, which other reports said was a village madrassa, or Islamic school.
"The Taliban used people's houses as their trenches," the governor said.
Ahmad Shah, a field coordinator for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kandahar's main hospital, said several civilians were among the wounded.
"I saw women and children brought from Panjwayi district, which I don't think are Taliban or al-Qaida," he said by phone from Kandahar. "I don't know about the numbers of dead or wounded, but there are plenty of them.
"Neither I, nor any Afghan, will feel good about this. The U.S. military must be careful with their actions."