Afghan Deaths Mount in Western Strikes

US, NATO kill more civilians than Taliban does
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 6, 2007 1:54 PM CDT
Afghan Deaths Mount in Western Strikes
The police and investigators inspect the sites of an explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan on June 17, 2007. U.S. and NATO commanders say they have blunted the Taliban's threatened spring offensive, killing almost 40 commanders and 2,000 insurgents. But suicide bombings and civilian deaths inflicted by international...   (Associated Press)

Of the 500 Afghan civilians killed in the first half of 2007, more were victims of US and NATO strikes than of Taliban insurgents, the LA Times reports. Among the main causes of collateral human damage are Western air attacks on walled compounds and "jittery troops" shooting civilians in the wake of car bombings.

US and NATO officials say its morally dishonest to compare accidental and deliberate casualties, and point to militants using civilians as human shields. But while the majority of Afghans continue to support the foreign troop presence, disillusionment is growing both with the occupation and with the Karzai government. (More Afghanistan stories.)

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