NATO TIGHTENS AFGHAN RULES TO CUT CIVILIAN DEATHS 14/1/09

Source: Reuters

Giovedi' 15 Gennaio 2009

NATO tightens Afghan rules to cut civilian deaths
By David Brunnstrom
January 14, 2009
(Reuters)


Nearly 700 civilians were killed in 2008 up to October in raids by foreign and Afghan forces, an Afghan rights body said last month, quoting a U.N. estimate.

Raids by foreign forces on homes and mosques are a major source of resentment against the more than 60,000 NATO and U.S.-led coalition troops in the country.

A directive by NATO's commander in Afghanistan, U.S. General David McKiernan, stresses the need for proportionate use of force and for Afghan forces to take the lead in searching Afghan homes and religious sites unless a clear danger is identified.

The December 30 order, only now made public, also requires commanders to ensure troops are properly trained for duties such as manning checkpoints to minimize the need to resort to deadly force. It also requires proper investigation of civilian casualties.

"Reducing to a minimum civilian casualties is not only a humanitarian imperative and a human imperative, it is also essential to maintaining public support for the presence of international forces," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.

The new directive comes as the U.S. conducts a wide-ranging review of its Afghan strategy and ahead of the inauguration of Barack Obama as the new American president next week.

It is the latest tightening of rules of engagement for NATO troops amid growing fears that the West is losing both the military campaign and the support of ordinary Afghans as violence in the country worsens.

In October, NATO ordered troops to pull back from firefights with the Taliban rather than call in air strikes that might kill civilians.

Appathurai blamed the Taliban and allied Islamist insurgents for the vast majority of civilian casualties.

"For August...insurgents were responsible for six times as many civilian casualties as ISAF (International Security Assistance Force), in September five times, in October four times, and in November, 20 times as many civilian casualties as NATO forces," he said. "Insurgents are responsible, according to our data, for 80 percent of civilian casualties in Afghanistan and with a critical difference -- they do not pay any attention to presence of civilians when conducting attacks, or they deliberately try to drag civilians into the line of fire."

He was unable to provide actual numbers of civilian casualties given "internal security reasons."

Violence in Afghanistan is worse than at any time since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001 and analysts say that without radical improvements in the way the military operates and better rule by the central government, NATO could face defeat.

The insurgents have extended their campaign to previously peaceful areas, capitalizing on resentment at the presence of foreign forces who many feel use air power indiscriminately, endangering civilians.