Disputed U.S. House Raid in Afghanistan Elevates Tension December 18, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan — A deadly United States military raid on a house near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan became a new source of tension on Thursday, with the Americans calling it a successful counterterrorism strike and the Afghans saying it left three innocent civilians dead and two wounded, including a 4-year-old boy bitten by an attack dog.
The raid took place on Wednesday in the village of Kundi in Khost Province. American military leaders and Afghan officials said they were investigating the conflicting accounts of what happened.
But President Hamid Karzai, who has grown increasingly impatient with the American-led war effort against the Taliban insurgency here, condemned the raid publicly in front of government leaders and foreign diplomats, saying that “entering by force to our people’s houses is against the government of Afghanistan.
Mr. Karzai, who will face an election next year, is under enormous pressure from Afghans who say the 7-year-old war against the Taliban has devastated the country and led to many civilian casualties at the hands of American-led forces."
The raid took place on the same day that diplomats in Kabul called on foreign forces to increase their sensitivity in order to win the “hearts and minds” of Afghans . . .
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/world/asia/19afghan.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print