Karzai presses NATO on civilian deaths

Hamid President on Monday demanded an explanation for the killing of three members of Sameh Jan Sherzad's family in an operation in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday in Chaki Wardak district of the eastern province of Wardak, the Associated Press reported. The Western military alliance said it was aware of the statement from Karzai's office, and would "cooperate fully" with the government to "assess the incident." Civilian casualties caused by NATO attacks have been a major source of tension between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the US-led military alliance. The loss of civilian lives at the hand of foreign forces has dramatically increased anti-American sentiments in Afghanistan. Insecurity continues to rise across Afghanistan despite the presence of nearly 150,000 Us-led forces in the Asian country. A United Nations report said on September 28 that Afghanistan saw a near 40 percent rise in the monthly average number of security incidents recorded for the year through the end of August. The report also said civilian casualties, already at record levels in the first six months of the year, rose 5 percent for the period from June to August compared with the same months of 2010. Around 130,000 people were displaced by the conflict in the first seven months of the year, up nearly two-thirds from the same period a year earlier.