U.N. To Extend NATO-Led Forces in Afghanistan
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously yesterday to extend the NATO-led force in Afghanistan but was critical of the growing number of civilian casualties, and urged its troops and American-led forces to make major efforts to minimize civilian deaths.
President Karzai of Afghanistan has long complained that civilian deaths caused by American or NATO military action undermine his government and the international mission.
The issue was propelled to the forefront of American-Afghan relations when an Afghan commission found that an August 22 American-led operation in the western village of Azizabad killed 90 civilians, including 60 children. That finding was backed by a preliminary U.N. report, though America is still investigating the incident.
The resolution recognized the increased threats posed by Afghanistan’s former Taliban rulers, Al Qaeda, and other extremist groups, and the challenges in dealing with them — but at the same time the council expressed “its serious concern with the high number of civilian casualties in this context.”
It recognized the efforts made by the NATO-led forces and other international troops to minimize the risk of civilian casualties and called on them “to take additional robust efforts in this regard.”
