US apology ‘not enough’

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai yesterday told US General David Petraeus, the commander of international troops, that his apology after nine children died in a NATO air strike was “not enough”.

Hundreds of angry demonstrators also rallied in central Kabul over the deaths in an air raid by coalition helicopters in the eastern province of Kunar on Tuesday.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said the children — who were collecting firewood in the province’s Dar-e-Pech district when they were killed — were mistaken for rebels.

Petraeus and US President Barack Obama both apologised.

A statement quoted Karzai as saying said that the “civilian casualties are a main cause of worsening the relationship between Afghanistan and the US”.

“On behalf of the people of Afghanistan I want you to stop the killings of civilians.”