Civilian casualties unacceptable: Pentagon

WASHINGTON (PAN — a long-running, emotive issue for the people and government — were unacceptable, the Pentagon said Tuesday, explaining it was working under challenging circumstances in the war-torn country.

“We find civilian casualties unacceptable as President (Hamid) Karzai does,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt John Kirby told reporters on the recent collateral damage Afghanistan.

“And Gen. Allen (US commander) made it very clear in his meeting with the president that he is going to investigate this thoroughly, fully and that he did take responsibility for the casualties that we caused. We take each one of us very seriously. They are all a tragedy,” he said.

At the same time, Kirby underscored the challenges being faced by US forces in the country. “It is important to remember that we work very hard not to cause collateral damage, exceptionally hard and when it happened as tragic as it is, it’s by mistake. It’s an accident. We own up for, we take responsibility, we investigate.”

On the other hand, the Taliban recklessly killed innocent people, the spokesman alleged, claiming the militants did not take the issue seriously.

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