Karzai criticizes U.S.-led coalition's anti-terror campaign for killing Afghans

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai criticized the U.S.-led coalition's anti-terror campaign Thursday, deploring the deaths of hundreds of Afghans and appealing for more financial help for his government.

Karzai's sharp assessment came as four more U.S. soldiers were killed.

More than four years after U.S.-led forces toppled the extremist Taliban government, Afghanistan is gripped by its deadliest spate of post-invasion violence. To try to curb the bloodshed, more than 10,000 coalition forces have launched a major offensive against militants across southern Afghanistan. More than 600 people, mainly militants, have been killed since May.

But Karzai, who has previously scorned large-scale anti-militant campaigns, rejected the continued spilling of Afghan blood in military operations.

"It is not acceptable for us that in all this fighting, Afghans are dying. In the last three to four weeks, 500 to 600 Afghans were killed. [Even] if they are Taliban, they are sons of this land," a clearly frustrated Karzai said.

On Thursday, Afghan and coalition forces raided a Taliban compound northwest of Tirin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan province, killing eight militants, the coalition said. Six others were captured.

Karzai said the focus on hunting militants doesn't address terrorism's root causes. "We must engage strategically in disarming terrorism by stopping their sources of supply of money, training, equipment and motivation," he said.

A spokesman for the U.S. military here expressed surprise and consternation at Karzai's comments.

"We are not just chasing Taliban," said the spokesman, Col. Tom Collins, referring to the Islamic militia that ruled most of the country for five years before being ousted by a U.S.-led force in 2001. "We are trying to push into new areas and establish good governance, but it's hard to do that when people are shooting at you."

Karzai also said the war on terror needs to be broadened beyond Afghan borders.

"We are concerned about the increase of attacks in our country," he said. "Some of the reasons are the internal weakness of administration in our country, but most of the factors are foreign factors, terrorism and organized attacks."

He did not elaborate on which "foreign factors" were involved, but many Afghan officials have accused neighboring Pakistan of doing too little to catch Taliban militants planning attacks. Islamabad denies the claims.

Karzai said Afghanistan has received considerable help in reconstruction but has been given inadequate assistance to strengthen its police, army and government administration.

"This is one of the reasons for the unhappiness between us and the international community," he said. "We did not get the assistance and cooperation that is necessary for a strategy for counterterrorism."

The four U.S. soldiers were killed and another wounded Wednesday while trying to block the movement of militant forces in the eastern Nuristan province, the military announced in a statement Thursday.

Information from The Washington Post is included in this report.