Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday renewed his call for Taliban militants to give up fighting his government, saying he will intensify efforts to bring the rebels in from the cold.
At a news conference in Kabul, the president hailed the support of the country’s international allies last week in London for a new initiative aimed at reconciling moderate Taliban insurgents.
“We as Afghans are trying our best to reach as high as possible to bring peace and security to Afghanistan,” Karzai said.
A “peace” jirga, or a traditional grand assembly of tribal elders, would be convened in Kabul “soon” to discuss how to start the efforts, he said.
Afghanistan and its international allies, mainly Western powers who have a military presence in the country, agreed at the London conference on Thursday to push for peace efforts in a more comprehensive program.
If implemented, insurgents laying down their arms will be provided with jobs, education and protection. Karzai said al-Qaeda operatives would be excluded.
Karzai said the new approach was a “good chance for peace in the country” and called on insurgent leaders to embrace it.
Meanwhile, a joint US-Afghan force called in an airstrike on what turned out to be an Afghan army post after taking fire from there before dawn, killing four Afghan soldiers and prompting an angry demand for punishment from Defense Ministry.
Both NATO and Afghan authorities described the clash on Saturday around a snow-covered outpost in Wardak Province southwest of Kabul as a case of mistaken identity. NATO called the attack “unfortunate” and promised a full investigation.
Nevertheless, the deadly strike threatens to strain relations between NATO and the Afghan government at a time when both sides are calling for a closer partnership in the fight against the Taliban.
Saturday’s fighting erupted about 3am when a group of US Special Forces and Afghan commandos approached a remote Afghan army outpost that was set up about 18 months ago to guard the main highway between Kabul and Kandahar.
NATO said the Afghan soldiers believed the unit was the Taliban and started shooting.
The joint force returned fire and called in the airstrike, which killed the four Afghan soldiers, NATO and the Afghan Defense Ministry said. Seven Afghan soldiers at the checkpoint were wounded, provincial spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said.
“Besides expressing heartfelt condolences to the families of the martyrs, the Afghan Defense Ministry is condemning this incident,” an Afghan statement said. “After the investigation is completed, the Defense Ministry wants to bring those responsible to justice.”
“I am from this area, and I witnessed the entire incident myself,” local resident Khan Mohammed said. “Planes arrived and bombed the Afghan National Army checkpoint. They hit some of the houses around the area with mortars.”
NATO said the joint force called in the airstrike only after failing to halt the fighting with return fire. The alliance said a joint Afghan-NATO investigation would “determine the facts and circumstances of this unfortunate incident.”
“We work extremely hard to coordinate and synchronize our operations,” NATO spokesman Brigadier General Eric Tremblay said.
It was believed to be the first fatal friendly fire incident since last November, when eight Afghans — four soldiers, three policemen and an interpreter — were killed.
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