US taking Afghan concerns ‘very seriously’: White House

Afghan President Hamid Karzai © AFP/File Shah Marai

AFP

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AFP) – A White House spokesman said Sunday that Washington was taking “very seriously” Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s concerns over the latest incident of civilian deaths caused by US-led military operations.

“We work very hard, our military in Afghanistan, to do everything we can to avoid civilian casualties,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard the president’s aircraft, Air Force One, as it made its way to Joplin, Missouri.

“We coordinate obviously, work with the Afghan government, Afghan military with that goal,” Carney said.

He added: “President Karzai has expressed on a number of occasions his concerns about civilian casualties. Those are concerns that we share and take very seriously.”

He made his remarks after Karzai angrily called on the US military to avoid operations that kill civilians, saying it was his “last warning” to Washington after 14 people allegedly died in an air strike.

Karzai was reacting to the reported deaths of 10 children, two women and two men in an air strike Saturday in the southern province of Helmand, saying such incidents amounted to the “murdering of Afghanistan’s children and women.”

Obama traveled to Joplin Sunday for a memorial service honoring the dozens of dead and missing following last week’s devastating tornado in the Missouri town.

© AFP — Published at Activist Post with license