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KABUL, Afghanistan – The U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan is limitingairstrikes against houses to self-defense for troops, following astrike last week that killed women and children alongsideinsurgents, a spokesman for the alliance said Monday. Such airstrikes are now being designated a weapon of last resort torescue soldiers, cutting back their use. Though airstrikes on homes are a small part of the internationaloperations in Afghanistan, they have brewed resentment amongAfghans, even when there are no casualties, because of the sensethat homes and privacy have been violated. Civilian deaths from such operations have threatened to derail theAfghan-U.S. alliance. A pact signed by the Afghan government and the U.S. military inApril putting Afghans in charge of joint raids in villages wassupposed to ease these tensions, but the aftermath of Wednesday'sairstrike against a home in eastern Afghanistan has shown that theAmericans are still making the decisions on the ground. Afghan officials have said that 18 civilians were killed in thestrike. President Hamid Karzai rebuked U.S. forces for failing toconsult their Afghan counterparts before calling for an airstrikein the house where insurgents had taken cover. NATO discovered thatcivilians had died the next morning when villagers piled the bodiesinto vans to display to Afghan officials. Karzai demanded in a meeting Saturday night with NATO and U.S.forces commander Gen. John Allen that the international troops banall airstrikes on homes. A spokesman for the alliance, Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, said Mondaythat airstrikes were being severely curtailed. "We will continue to conduction combat operations againstinsurgents who use civilian dwellings, but we will not useair-delivered munitions against civilian dwellings unless it is aquestion of self-defense for our troops on the ground," Cummingssaid. Commanders previously could order airstrikes against insurgents onhouses, as long as they were confident that there were no civilianspresent. Cummings says that the new restrictions mean commanderswill not be able to call in a strike unless it is necessary to savethe lives of their troops. This applies even if it is clear thereare no civilians in the house. "This restriction in no way limits our ability to take the fight tothe enemy," Cummings said. He said that of about 3,000 NATOairstrikes in the past six months, only 10 of them were againstcivilian homes. Of those 10, seven resulted in civilian casualties,he said. In addition, he said, NATO forces are in negotiations with Afghanofficials about how to involve the Afghan military in decisions onairstrikes. Afghan forces have already had to sign off on jointoperations in villages, but there has not been a procedure forinvolving them in the often split-second decision of when to callin air power. Last year was the deadliest on record for civilians in the Afghanwar, with 3,021 killed as insurgents stepped up suicide attacks androadside bombs, according to the United Nations. The number ofAfghan civilians killed dropped 36 percent in the first four monthsof this year compared with last year, though U.N. officials havesaid that a likely cause of the drop in violence was theparticularly harsh winter. Anti-government forces, including the Taliban and other militants,were responsible for 79 percent of civilian casualties in the firstfour months of this year, according to the U.N. tally, while Afghanand international forces were responsible for 9 percent. Violence has started to increase with the warm summer weather,including regular reports of civilian casualties. Nine civilianswere killed Monday in two separate incidents, including one inwhich an ambulance rushing a pregnant woman to a hospital struck aroadside bomb. The woman and four of her family members were killedin the blast in Sar-e-Pul province, the Interior Ministry said. Another two women and two children were killed Monday in the eastwhen a mortar fired by insurgents hit their home in Ghazniprovince's Gilan district, said Ghazni provincial spokesman FazelAhmad Sabawon. The militants appeared to be aiming for a governmentbuilding nearby, he said. In another development, the United Nations reported that it firedthree Afghan officials as part of an investigation into allegationsof fraud in the management of a $1.4 billion fund for the trainingand support of the Afghan police force. The program, which payspolice salaries, is an important part of the effort to maintainsecurity in Afghanistan as international forces draw down over thenext two years. "This ongoing investigation indicates zero tolerance toward fraud,"said Brian Hansford, a spokesman for the U.N. Development Program,which oversees the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan. Hedeclined to give specific information on those fired or the exactaccusations. It was not immediately clear how much money wasinvolved. Also in Kabul on Monday, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drianmet with Karzai and coalition officials, including Allen, as partof his trip to pay homage to four French soldiers who were killedon Saturday in eastern Kapisa province and visit the five otherFrench soldiers who were wounded. The recently elected French President Francois Hollande haspromised to pull France's 2,000 combat troops out of Afghanistan bythe end of the year — well before the 2014 goal for themajority of NATO combat troops to leave the country. The defense minister said the recent deaths had not alteredFrance's withdrawal plan, but stressed that some French forceswould stay to help train Afghan security forces and help manage theairport in Kabul. About 1,400 French soldiers are expected toremain. "Our presence in the coalition will be maintained until the end ofthe coalition mission in 2014," he said. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Furnace Heat Treatment Manufacturer , China Walking Beam Furnace, and more. For more , please visit Furnace Heat Treatment today!
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