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Afghanistan to review NATO, US military presence
Hey Baraka, here is your exit strategy.Afghanistan will review regulations governing the presence of tens of thousands of foreign troops fighting a bloody Islamist insurgency, Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta said Saturday. The review was demanded by parliament after US air strikes against Taliban insurgents killed civilians in the western province of Farah this month. An Afghan government investigation says 140 civilians died, making it one of the deadliest such incidents since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban. An interim administration in 2002 signed agreements with foreign troops regulating their activities in Afghanistan but times have changed, Spanta said. "Today we have an elected government, an elected parliament, free media," the minister told reporters. "This requires the agreements we had signed as a country then, with no government, seven years ago, to be reviewed." "It is our duty and responsibility to defend the rights and dignity of the Afghans. It is our duty and responsibility to know why Afghans are jailed. It is our responsibility to see whether our compatriots are tortured or not." For the government to do this "we must have new agreements with our allies," the minister said. Similar demands were made after the previous most deadly incident for civilians -- caught up in the battle between insurgents and security forces -- in the western province of Herat last August. UN and Afghan investigations said around 90 civilians were killed; the US military said at least 33 civilians and 22 militants died. Afghan and foreign security forces have since signed an agreement committing the US and NATO-led deployments to measures to reduce harm to civilians. Posted by: ed 2009-05-16 |
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