A
drone attack on Thursday morning on a house in the Faqiran area of
Helmand province killed a 2-year-old child and injured two women, it
said in a statement. The
attack took place during an impasse between Karzai and the United
States over a long-term security agreement. The US has warned the Afghan
president it would plan for the withdrawal of all US and NATO troops by
the end of 2014, unless he signs the agreement.
Some
2,500 tribal elders in a Loya Jirga or Grand Assembly last week
approved the security agreement, asking Karzai to sign it before the end
of this year. Karzai said he has conditions to be met by Washington before signing. One of them is an immediate ban on raids on houses.
"This
attack shows that American forces do not respect the lives and security
of the people of Afghanistan and the Loya Jirga decision," Karzai was
quoted as saying by the statement.
"For
as long as such arbitrary acts and oppression of foreign forces
continue, the security agreement with the United States will not be
signed."
NATO-led force in Afghanistan says will probe Thursday's airstrike, "deeple regrets" any civilian deaths
The
NATO-led force in Afghanistan said it would investigate Thursday's
airstrike in Helmand that local officials say killed a child and has
further aggravated a stand-off between the Afghan president and the US
government.
"ISAF deeply regrets any civilian casualties caused by this airstrike," the force said in a statement.
President
Hamid Karzai said the killing demonstrated the United States did not
respect the lives of Afghan civilians and if such attacks continued, he
would not sign a bilateral security pact.
Wrangling
over the deal has lasted about a year. The pact aims to shape a US
military presence in Afghanistan after 2014, when most foreign forces
are due to leave the country.
Without a pact, US officials have warned the United States could pull out all of its troops.
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