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Karzai seeks end to Afghan raids before BSA sign

Karzai seeks end to Afghan raids before BSA sign

author avatar
19 Jan 2014 - 20:53
Karzai seeks end to Afghan raids before BSA sign
author avatar
19 Jan 2014 - 20:53

KABUL (Pajhwok): The National Security Council (NSC) on Sunday asked foreign troops to stop with immediate effect conducting night-time raids and bombing Afghan homes, with President Karzai repeating his refusal to sign the security agreement until his conditions were met.

A statement issued from the Presidential Palace said President Karzai chaired the NSC meeting that underlined the needed for a forthwith end to night-time operations by foreign troops.

Abdul Star Khawasi, a lawmaker from central Parwan province, presented before the meeting the findings of a government investigation team, which had been tasked with probing civilian deaths in a joint Afghan-US forces operation in Seyah Gard district on Jan 15.

The lawmaker from Parwan province told the NSC meeting that their investigation showed 12 civilians, including five children and three women, had been killed in the joint operation.

He said another four men had been seriously injured in the operation in the Wazghar area, where residents also suffered huge financial losses.

The lawmaker also called for families of the victims to be compensated.

The NSC urged the US to take practical measures for bringing about peace and stability to Afghanistan before the BSA was signed.

President Karzai directed the authorities concerned to invite families of the victims, tribal elders and religious leaders from the district and share their grief.

Earlier, ISAF said the operation in Parwan had been requested by the provincial governor to improve security ahead of the April elections. But the governor said he had not been taken onboard prior to the operation.

At the NSC meeting, Karzai also once again reiterated he would not sign the BSA until the US met his conditions, including an end to raids on Afghan homes.

He condemned the operation in Parwan and the group suicide attack on a foreign restaurant in Kabul, saying Afghans were being killed in the name of foreigners’ presence in the country.

He said as long as raids on Afghan homes continued and the US did not take practical steps to meet his conditions, he would not sign the security deal.

Meanwhile, participants of the NSC meeting conferred on the establishment of a strategic partnership Afghanistan-Pakistan office at the US State Department.

The meeting directed National Security Advisor Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta and foreign minister to seek further information from US officials on the creation of the new office.

mrh/rm/ma

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