KABUL, Afghanistan – President Karzai criticized the American-led coalition’s anti-terror campaign yesterday, deploring the deaths of hundreds of Afghans and appealing for more financial help for his government.

Mr. Karzai’s sharp assessment came as Osama bin Laden’s deputy urged Afghans to revolt against coalition forces, and four more American soldiers were killed.

More than four years after Americanled forces toppled the extremist Taliban government, Afghanistan is gripped by its deadliest spate of post-invasion violence. To try curb the bloodshed, more than 10,000 coalition forces have launched a major offensive against terrorists across southern Afghanistan. More than 600 people, mainly terrorists, have been killed since May.

But Mr. Karzai, who previously has scorned large-scale anti-terrorist campaigns, rejected the continued spilling of Afghan blood in military operations.

“It is not acceptable for us that in all this fighting, Afghans are dying. In the last three to four weeks, 500 to 600 Afghans were killed. [Even] if they are Taliban, they are sons of this land,” a clearly frustrated Mr. Karzai told reporters in Kabul.

Yesterday, Afghan and coalition forces raided a Taliban compound northwest of Tirin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan province, killing eight terrorists, the coalition said. Six others were captured.

Mr. Karzai said the current focus on hunting terrorists didn’t address terrorism’s root causes. “We must engage strategically in disarming terrorism by stopping their sources of supply of money, training, equipment, and motivation,” he said.

He also said the war on terror needs to be broadened beyond Afghan borders.

“We are concerned about the increase of attacks in our country,” he said. “Some of the reasons are the internal weakness of administration in our country, but most of the factors are foreign factors, terrorism, and organized attacks.”

He did not elaborate on which “foreign factors” were involved, but many Afghan officials have accused neighboring Pakistan of doing too little to catch Taliban terrorists planning attacks. Islamabad denies the claims.

Mr. Karzai said Afghanistan has received considerable help in reconstruction but has been given inadequate assistance to strengthen its police force, army, and government administration.

“This is one of the reasons for the unhappiness between us and the international community,” he said. “We did not get the assistance and cooperation that is necessary for a strategy for counterterrorism.”

Hours before Mr. Karzai’s comments, Al Qaeda’s no. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, released a new videotape, his sixth this year, calling on Afghans to rise up against coalition forces.

“I am calling upon the Muslims in Kabul in particular and in all Afghanistan in general and for the sake of God to stand up in an honest stand in the face of the infidel forces that are invading Muslim lands,” said Mr. Zawahri, wearing a white turban with an automatic rifle next to him.

The 3 1/2-minute tape, titled “American Crimes in Kabul,” was apparently made the day after a May 29 accident in which an American military truck crashed into traffic in the Afghan capital, killing up to five people. The incident sparked anti-foreigner riots that left about 20 people dead, the bloodiest unrest here since the Taliban’s 2001 ouster.

“I direct my speech today to my Muslim brothers in Kabul who lived the bitter events yesterday and saw by their own eyes a new proof of the criminal acts of the American forces against the Afghani people,” Mr. Zawahri said on the tape, posted on an Islamist Web site.

Asked about the tape, Mr. Karzai blamed Mr. Zawahri for Afghanistan’s suffering before and after the attack of September 11, 2001, and vowed to arrest him.