NATO apologized for civilian casualties in air strikes in Afghanistan

KABUL - NATO forces in Afghanistan issued an apology for the deaths of citizens of Afghanistan, after Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the NATO air strikes that he killed 14 people, including children.

In a statement made on Monday (5/30/2011), the NATO tried to 'find justification attack civilians' by claiming that the attacks in the southern province of Helmand, was conducted on Saturday (28 / 5) after the militants who earlier killed Marines patrol, hiding in the housing.

Housing is being attacked from the air that is home residents. Local officials claimed five girls, seven boys and two girls, including those killed by the NATO forces.

"I convey sincere apology for the nine people who died in the incident in Now Zad district, Helmand province, on May 28 that," the statement said Maj. Gen. John Toolan, commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO ) to the southwest Afghanistan.

Despite the Toolan emphasized "top priority" allies is to avoid casualties among the people, still the civilian casualties continue to fall and continued to increase. ISAF Party added that a full investigation is underway.

"While I know there is no price on human life, we ensure that we respect the family in accordance with Afghan culture," added Toolan.

However, Toolan did not explain the difference between the number of casualties given version of the ISAF and Afghan officials. ISAF reveal civilian victims of 9 people, while the Afghan government says have fallen victim as many as 14 people.

The apology came after Karzai's office issued that said "final warning" to U.S. troops and NATO leaders on casualties among the people due to the incident on Saturday was a big mistake.

Diplomatically, a spokesman for the White House response to Karzai's Jay Carney responded by telling reporters, "We share and take very seriously concerns Karzai."

Death of the people in the movement of foreign troops is a very sensitive issue in Afghanistan, which often triggers strong protests and condemnation against Karzai by his subjects. However, experts in Afghanistan warned that the "last warning" Karzai likely result in limited impact.

"I'm sure he could not do anything," said analyst Waheed Mujda.

"The people of Afghanistan think there is no Afghan government, only the government of foreign troops in Afghanistan, because the president was paralyzed. He was trapped between the caller action by foreign troops, which he relies in many ways, "he said.

Previously, foreign troops will hand over security control in some areas is safer to Afghan troops since July, officially beginning the transition to complete withdrawal of all foreign combat troops in 2014.

Meanwhile, the Afghan army currently numbers 160,000 and 126,000 police, in bawahpelatihan in order to increase the number and quality of Afghan forces. At present, Afghan forces did not participate in an air strike, because of weight limitations of the young country's air force.