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Afghanistan

Afghanistan: More coordination needed for halting civilian casualties - ministry

KABUL, Jan 29, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX News Network) -- The Afghan Defense Ministry on Thursday described civilian casualties as a "huge challenge" laying ahead of the Afghan government and international troops and called for more coordination to overcome the problem.

"The biggest challenge laying ahead us is the civilian casualties as harming civilians discredits both the Afghan government and the international troops," Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said at a press conference attended by NATO and the U.S. military.

Azimi made the comment amid reported increase in civilian fatalities during NATO and the U.S.-led military operations against Taliban-linked insurgents.

Some three dozen civilian, according to media reports, have been killed over the past two weeks in Afghanistan's Laghman and Kapisa provinces during operations against Taliban while some 2, 000 out of over 5,000 people killed in 2008 were civilians in the war-battered central Asian country.

After repeated calls on NATO by the Afghan government to avoid harming non-combatants, Kabul sent an 11-article letter to both NATO and the U.S. asking the alliance to avoid civilian casualties by coordinating operations with the Afghan administration.

It also called on the alliance to respond to the letter within one month.

Azimi stressed that international troops ought to respect the Afghan culture during searching houses and coordinate with the government in order to avoid arresting innocent civilians.

The spokesman moreover noted that the insurgents, in efforts to defame the troops, use civilians as human shields.

Speaking on the occasion, spokesman of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Richard Branchette said that ISAF mission under the United Nations mandate is "to support the Afghan people in bringing and maintaining peace in Afghanistan."

Spokesman of the U.S.-led Coalition forces Greg Julian also said "We are doing everything to avoid civilian casualties."

He also added that 80 percent of civilian casualties were caused by insurgents through carrying out suicide attacks, roadside bombings and using civilians as human shields.