Mehtar Lam, Afghanistan: Thousands of Afghans protested against the Afghan president Hamid Karzai and United States.
After the reports of fresh civilian deaths in the raids of US-led forces against the Taliban insurgents, in Laghman province, chanted slogans against Karzai and US, thousands of Afghans participated in the protest, despite the heavy rain.
The very sensitive issue of civilian deaths in Afghanistan has eroded the public support for the Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
According to US reports, some 16 Taliban were killed in the US raids, backed by air support.
However, the Karzai adviser told the media that some 15 civilians were killed in the Laghman province and many of them are children and women, in the US raids.
A statement came from the president’s palace that killing the children and women and bombing the villages and towns would harm the war on terror.
According to a UN human rights based estimate, some 700 civilians have been killed until last October in the US and Afghan forces operations.
Karzai repeatedly urged foreign troops to coordinate operations with Afghan government, he also termed the civilians deaths, a main source of Afghanistan’s instability.