NATO limits airstrikes on Afghan homes

Associated Press

KABUL

The U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan is limiting airstrikes against houses to self-defense for troops, after a strike last week that killed women and children alongside insurgents, a spokesman for the alliance said Monday.

Such airstrikes now are being designated a weapon of last resort to rescue soldiers, cutting back their use.

Though airstrikes on homes are a small part of the international operations in Afghanistan, they have brewed resentment among Afghans, even when there are no casualties, because of the sense that homes and privacy have been violated.

Civilian deaths from such operations have threatened to derail the Afghan-U.S. alliance.