US general apologizes for airstrike

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan apologized to President Hamid Karzai for a drone strike that killed a child, and NATO promised an investigation Friday as rising tensions threatened efforts to persuade the Afghan leader to sign a long-delayed security agreement.

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford called Karzai late Thursday to express “deep regrets for the incident and any civilian casualties,” the commander’s spokesman said.

Karzai condemned the attack, which also wounded two women earlier Thursday, and said all airstrikes and foreign raids on Afghan homes must stop if the United States expects him to sign the pact that would allow thousands of Americans to stay in the country beyond a 2014 withdrawal deadline.

“This attack shows that American forces do not respect the safety of the Afghan people in their homes,” Karzai said in a Dari-language statement on his website.

The two governments have agreed on a draft bilateral security agreement, and it was approved by a consultative Afghan council known as a Loya Jirga. But Karzai shocked the assembly and the Americans when he announced he would not sign the deal but would instead leave that up to his successor after April 5 elections. The 2,500-member Loya Jirga also had demanded it be signed by the end of next month.

The Obama administration has been trying to persuade Karzai to change his mind and sign the deal by the end of the year in order to allow enough time to make preparations for a continuing presence after the NATO and U.N. mandates for foreign troops in the country expires at the end of next year.

In the phone call, Dunford talked to Karzai directly and “expressed deep regrets for the incident and any civilian casualties.” He assured Karzai that an investigation would be conducted into Thursday’s airstrike.