U.S. troops hold fire to avoid Afghan civilians - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

U.S. troops hold fire to avoid Afghan civilians

KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. forces battling insurgents in eastern Afghanistan did not shoot at one group of militants during a battle in order to avoid hitting civilians that may have been in the area, the military said Nov. 8.

The military said its forces killed 10 militants in multiple operations Friday in eastern Afghanistan. But during one engagement in Nangarhar province U.S. troops decided not to fire because of nearby civilians, it said in a statement.

Civilian deaths in Afghanistan have become an increasing point of tension between Washington and President Hamid Karzai and could be one of the early challenges for U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.

A joint U.S.-Afghan investigation found that U.S. forces battling Taliban militants killed 37 Afghan civilians and wounded 35 at a wedding party in the village of Wech Baghtu in Kandahar province last Monday, according to a U.S. military statement Saturday. The battle also killed 26 insurgents.

A U.S. official told The Associated Press that the military has firsthand knowledge that the Taliban hoped to cause those civilian deaths by forcing the Afghans to stay in the village.

Such a tactic by the Taliban could mean significant complications for U.S. forces and allies — forcing them to break off attacks and pursuit of extremists in populated areas for fear that the Taliban would try to maximize civilian deaths.

The U.S. official said American troops always have the option of breaking away from a fight to avoid harming civilians. The official also said top military commanders are discussing the idea that troops must break away in a populated area. The issue has not moved beyond the discussion stage, he said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release details of internal discussions.

Insurgents have always used populated areas for cover in conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan. But the U.S. claim Friday represents the first detailed intelligence on an apparent Taliban strategy to bring innocent lives into the crossfire, the official told The Associated Press.

Civilian deaths have caused an increasing amount of friction between the Afghan government and the U.S. An Afghan commission found that an August operation by U.S. forces killed 90 civilians in the village of Azizabad. The U.S. originally said no civilians died; a high-level investigation later concluded 33 civilians were killed.

Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said during a visit to Kabul on Saturday that he does not believe civilian casualties have damaged the “fundamental relationship” between the U.S. and Afghanistan. He said the military is doing everything it can to avoid civilian deaths.

“I think we also understand together with our Afghan partners that we’re dealing with an enemy that often deliberately embeds itself in villages ... and so it’s very difficult to avoid these incidents,” Boucher said.

“No village wants to be left as a playground for the Taliban. These people unfortunately have had the experience of living under the Taliban in their villages, and I don’t think anyone wants to repeat that,” he said.

Separately, gunmen ambushed and killed the chief government official of Taywara district in Ghor province Saturday, said provincial police chief Gen. Shah Jahan Noori. Taliban and other militants often attack government officials in an attempt to destabilize the government.