KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan’s president Sunday rejected a U.S. apology for the mistaken killing of nine Afghan boys in a NATO air attack and said civilian casualties are no longer acceptable.
Hamid Karzai’s office said he told Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, that expressing regret was not sufficient in last week’s killing of the boys by coalition helicopters.
NATO has also apologized for the mistaken killings. Civilian casualties from coalition operations are a major source of strain in the already difficult relationship between Karzai’s government and the United States, and they generate widespread outrage among the population.
The nine boys were killed on March 1 in the Pech valley area of Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan.
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