Air strike kills Afghan police, civilians.

This story is also covered in the Globe and Mail.
Air strikes that kill civilians are quite common. Karzai has been complaining for ages but the policy does not change. It does not change because it is NATO casualties that are important not Afghan casualties. Significant casualties suffered by NATO could very well turn public opinion even more against the Afghan war than it already is especially in places other than the U.S. Even in the U.S. a large increase in casualties could cause PR problems for those selling the Afghan war. Both Obama and McCain are for increased U.S. troops so both want to make sure this is not accompanied by too many casualties. Neither Afghan nor Iraqi casualties are even counted.
Note that the first case in which Afghan police are attacked arises from forces not even informing the Afghan side what they are doing! One main force is called ISAF the International Security Assistance Force. So they assist by not letting the Afghans know what they are doing and as a result killing the forces they are assisting!


Air strike kills Afghan police, civilians
Last Updated: Sunday, July 20, 2008 10:23 AM ET CBC News
At least four police officers and five civilians have been killed in an air strike in western Afghanistan after a gunfight with coalition forces in an apparent case of mistaken identity.
The foreign troops did not inform police they were coming into the area and both sides mistook the other for Taliban insurgents, said Younus Rasuli, deputy governor of Farah province.
He said the two groups fought each other for four hours overnight in a western area of the province.
In another incident, three civilians were accidentally killed by coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan late Saturday.
In a statement, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it was investigating the incident in the Barmal district of Paktika province, in which its troops fired two mortar rounds that landed nearly a half kilometre short of their target.
The statement did not identify the nationality of the foreign troops, but both NATO and U.S. coalition officials said they were looking into the report.
The reported civilian and police deaths could hurt popular support for the Afghan government as well as foreign forces operating in Afghanistan.
President Hamid Karzai has pleaded with the U.S. and other nations fighting resurgent militants to avoid civilian casualties.