Afghanistan: President Hamid Karzai has berated the Nato forces for their apparent disregard for civilian life.
So far this year, according to figures provided by Afghan and foreign officials and witnesses, 211 innocent civilians have been killed, mainly through high-level bombing attacks by Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).
Karzai blames Isaf and US forces for undertaking missions without prior consultation with or advice from Afghan forces, thereby leaving open the possibility that the intended targets have been inadequately or insufficiently identified as such. It does not help Isaf that most of their missions are aerial bombings, done deliberately to avoid increasing casualties of allied forces when fighting the Taliban at ground level.
Since the wars in Iraq and even Bosnia, the US has much preferred to fight its wars in this way, overlooking the fact that in doing so, the so-called smart bombs are not as smart as they would have us believe, and are known to frequently incur the loss of innocent life on the ground.
Nato has admitted it must "do better" but quite how this is going to be achieved, without sending ground forces in, is unclear. What is clear is if innocent lives continue to be lost, Karzai's tenuous hold on power will be severely undermined.
