Karzai urges military action in Pakistan instead of Afghanistan

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that air trikes carried out in Afghan villages by US and NATO troops are only killing civilians, and that the international community should instead go after terror centers in Pakistan. International forces serving under NATO and the separate US-led coalition insist that the vast majority of those killed in air raids are militants. However, they also acknowledge that civilians are sometimes killed in bombing runs, though they accuse militants of firing on international troops from civilian homes they have commandeered. Speaking under a tree on the grounds of the presidential palace, Karzai said the international community should take its fight across the border into Pakistan, where militants find safe havens in Pakistan's tribal region. "The struggle against terrorism is not in the villages of Afghanistan," Karzai said. "The only result of the use of airstrikes is the killing of civilians. This is not the way to wage the fight against terrorism."