Afghanistan/Pakistan/US

Civilians died in US strikes in Afghanistan, says ICRC

Article published on the 2009-05-06 Latest update 2009-05-07 08:28 TU

A US Marine jumps over a stream during a patrol in Farah province, Afghanistan, on 5 May 2009
(Photo: Reuters)

The International Committee of the Red Cross has said that US-led air strikes in western Afghanistan on Tuesday killed dozens of people, including civilians. Meanwhile, US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke has called on Wasington to increase aid to Pakistan, and for Islamabad to "show results" in stabilising the Afghan-Pakistani border.

The conflict had its roots in a dispute between local farmers and Taliban forces operating in the region.

“Fighting broke out over a dispute over poppy taxes," said correspondent Jerome Starkey in Kabul. "The Taliban often try to tax farmers who grow poppies which is turned into opium and heroin.”

“The farmers appear to have rejected the Taliban presence and to have started fighting them,” asking local Afghan government forces to help them, Starkley told RFI.

“I’ve been told by western officials in Kabul that the Afghan security forces were in fact on the brink of being overwhelmed by the Taliban. It’s at that point that they called the Americans and the American launched airstrikes,” Starkley said.

US President Barack Obama is set to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday in Washington.

Karzai has ordered his government to investigate the air strikes, in the province of Farah, and said that he would bring them up with Obama. The US military also announced an investigation.

An ICRC spokeswoman, Jessica Barry, said that among those who died in the strikes were women, children, a community volunteer for the Afghan Red Crescent Society, and 13 members of his family.

In Washington on Tuesday, Holbrooke spoke at a congressional hearing on Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He said that for the US to succesfully fight the Taliban and its allies, Pakistan must "demonstrate its commitment to rooting out al-Qaeda and the violent extremists within its borders".

He also said that US economic support for Pakistan was crucial. "Our goal must be unambiguously to support and help stabilise a democratic Pakistan headed by its elected president", said Holbrooke.

Currently the US congress is considering bills to increase non-military aid to Pakistan, as well as more counter-terrorism training for Pakistani forces.

Obama will first meet Zardari at the White House, and then the two will be joined by Karzai.

On France 24 TV  US chairs three-way summit to address Taliban, al Qaeda