KABUL: Seven members of the Afghan security forces were killed in a NATO air strike in remote western Afghanistan, the defense ministry said on Saturday.
“Due to a NATO forces air strike on Nov. 6 in Badghis province seven Afghan security personnel (both Afghan army and national police) were martyred and also some were wounded,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The commando brigade informs us that foreign forces also sustained some casualties,” it said, adding: “The issue is under investigation by Afghan and NATO forces and the results will be announced soon.”
The statement comes as NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it was investigating an incident in Badghis on Friday in which more than 25 international and Afghan forces were wounded.
Five of the 25 wounded were US soldiers, injured in what a Western military official, speaking anonymously, said was friendly fire.
However, ISAF spokesman Lt. Col. Todd Vician, of the US Air Force, told AFP: “We have nothing to confirm friendly fire.” “No ISAF members were killed,” he said, confirming that five injured ISAF soldiers were Americans. Investigations into Friday’s incident were ongoing and no further details were available, he said.
The incident is believed to have taken place during a clash between ISAF and Afghan soldiers who were searching for two paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division who went missing Wednesday during a routine supply mission.
Meanwhile, Pushing back against international criticism, Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said Saturday that the top UN official in the country overstepped his authority by giving instructions on how to rid the government of corruption and warlords. Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide joined a host of international figures, including President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who have called on the Afghan government to take concrete steps to clean up the government following a presidential election that was marred by fraud.
But the comments of Eide, head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, prompted the foreign minister to issue a weekend statement saying the UN official “exceeded international norms and his authority as a representative of an impartial organization.”
“Troop countries are looking very carefully, and more carefully and more intensively, than before at what is happening and that will certainly determine the public mood at this critical juncture. And that’s a factor of conditionality that governments cannot ignore,” he said.
UN mission spokesman Adrian Edwards said Saturday that Eide had made similar comments before, urging the Afghan government to curb corruption and rein in regional leaders who often wield more power than the government. He said the UN mission in Afghanistan is mandated by the UN to provide advice.
