This article, by Dean Nelson, was published in the Daily Telegraph, January 26, 2009.
US forces said they had shot dead 15 Taliban insurgents when they came under fire in Mehtar Lam, around 40 miles east of the capital Kabul, in the early hours of Saturday morning. A spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan said the dead included a woman carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
But according to Afghan government officials 16 civilians had been killed, including women and children, and the toll could rise to 22.
President Karzai, who has been increasingly vocal in his criticism of American military operations in the country, said he could no longer accept the high numbers of civilian deaths. His comments came as demonstrators in Laghman province protested against the American operations and the deaths of "innocent villagers".
Earlier this month, officials said US soldiers had killed up to 21 civilians when troops fired indiscriminately on villagers who had emerged from their homes after American troops raided the home of a suspected Taliban fighter in Masamoot, another village in Laghman province. An American spokesman had claimed 32 Taliban fighters had been killed.
The issue is becoming increasingly serious for Mr Karzai as Afghanistan's presidential election, expected in Sept, looms closer. He fears he will be painted as an "American puppet" if he is not seen to be confronting them over unpopular raids.
A US military spokesman denied civilians had been killed. He said a senior Taliban official had been killed when American troops retaliated after coming under attack. They had returned fire with small arms and "precision air weapons".
"The people who were killed today were running around, manoeuvring against our forces, and we killed them," said Colonel Greg Julian.
The head of Laghman province's local council, Hamidadan Abdul Rahmzai, denied the American account and said the dead were innocent villagers. A Taliban spokesman later denied that any of its fighters were among the dead.
Which account is closer to the truth remains unclear as both American and Afghan officials conduct their own investigations into the incident.
Comments