NATO to retrain troops to stop killing civilians

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NATO to retrain troops to stop killing civilians

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US-led force in Afghanistan will retrain troops to avoid civilian casualties following new deaths.

29 November,2011 07:26 pm

NATOs International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the order had gone out to commanders, but would not confirm the deadline, nor release the full text of the internal letter leaked by Karzais office.The move comes with NATO already facing uncomfortable fallout after an air strike killed 24 Pakistani troops near the Afghan border on Saturday.Karzais office quoted a letter from force commander US General John Allen saying he had issued orders for all units to conduct retraining on our methods of employing force against insurgents while protecting Afghan civilians.No later than 5 December, units will confirm to me that they have complied with these orders, it said.The letter quoted Allen as saying that he had initiated aggressive action across the alliance force to investigate incidents of civilian casualties and to ensure they do not reoccur.An ISAF spokesman, Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, confirmed that retraining had been ordered.It is (in) the highest interests of ISAF to protect the civilian population so the commander of ISAF... took action in his orders to his commanders, he said.Another spokesman for ISAF, Lieutenant Commander Brian Badura, said it was not releasing the full text of the letter, which was intended to be an internal document.There are around 140,000 foreign troops fighting a 10-year, Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan, with around 100,000 from the United States.