Afghan Leader: U.S., NATO Should Take Action in Pakistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Karzai said yesterday that airstrikes carried out in Afghan villages by America and NATO troops are only killing civilians and that the international community should instead go after terror centers in Pakistan.

International forces serving under NATO and the separate American-led coalition insist that the vast majority of those killed in air raids are militants. However, they also acknowledge that civilians are sometimes killed in bombing runs, though they accuse militants of firing on international troops from civilian homes they have commandeered.

Speaking under a tree on the grounds of the presidential palace, Mr. Karzai said the international community should take its fight across the border into Pakistan, where militants find safe havens in Pakistan's tribal region.

"The struggle against terrorism is not in the villages of Afghanistan," Mr. Karzai said. "The only result of the use of airstrikes is the killing of civilians. This is not the way to wage the fight against terrorism."

Afghan officials say American or NATO airstrikes killed dozens of civilians in two incidents last month, including 47 people who were killed while walking to a wedding in the eastern province of Nangarhar on July 6.

Mr. Karzai's comments come the same day as Afghan officials announced that airstrikes and clashes in Kapisa province, north of the capital, killed more than 10 people Saturday. A defense ministry spokesman, General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, said those killed were militants.