Kabul: President Hamid Karzai lashed out at his U.S. allies again on Thursday after word came that at least one, and possibly two, NATO drone strikes had killed civilians in southern Afghanistan.
Karzai accused the United States of launching a drone strike that killed a 2-year-old child and vowed to not sign a long-term security agreement if similar attacks continue.
Karzai said a suspected U.S. “pilotless aircraft” fired into a house shortly before noon in Helmand province, killing the child and wounding two women. He said the information was relayed to him by Mohammad Naem, the governor of the province.
The attacks came at a delicate moment, when talks between Karzai and the United States over a long-term security agreement had reached an impasse.
The Americans have told Karzai that unless he signs the agreement promptly, they will begin planning for a total withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces after the end of next year.
Karzai vowed this week, at the conclusion of a loya jirga, or grand council, that he would cancel the security agreement completely if there was even one more raid that killed civilians.
On Thursday, he said in effect, that moment had come. “For as long as such arbitrary acts and oppression of foreign forces continue, the security agreement with the United States will not be signed,” he said.
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