Senate denounces US raids on Uruzgan police post

KABUL,or upper house of parliament, on Tuesday condemned US airstrikes on a police post in central Uruzgan province, calling for holding accountable the military personnel involved in the incident.

Two days back, eight Afghan National Police (ANP) officials were killed in the US raids on their checkpoint in Tirinkot, the capital of Uruzgan.

Senator Nisar Haris hit out at the so-called friendly fire incident. “We regret the loss of our eight police officers who were fighting terrorists.”He said security organs should not remain silent.

“We want condolence payments to families of the victims; otherwise the ministries of interior and defence would be held responsible by history and the people of Afghanistan,” he said.

Afghan forces have been repeatedly targeted by US troops over the past 15 years, he alleged, urging the government to take necessary action to prevent such raids.

Mohammad Alam Ezidyar, another senator, said: “The attack on our forces fighting international terrorism should be thoroughly probed to prevent such attacks in the future,”

Mohammad Hassan Hotak, a Meshrano Jirga member, asked the US government to make condolence payments to families of the martyred police officials.

“Our eight policemen have been martyred by US forces; people should know why there was no coordination between Afghan and US trips before the attack,” he remarked.

Senator Gul Mohammad Rasulisaid silence of government leadersand security officials about the incident was a betrayalof the blood of police forces.

Nazar Mohammad Faqiri, another senator, said, “The government didn’t utter a single word about the incident. The US forces can even see a needle on the ground, but they could not watch Afghan forces and flag?”

Second Deputy Chairman Eng. Hasibullah Kalimzai said the Afghan forces were targeted as result of negligence on the part of US forces; an issue that must be investigated.

He asked the ministries of interior and defence to investigate the raids and bring those responsible to justice.The interior minister would be summoned on Sunday to provide information about the nature of the incident, he said.

A US Army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, said the airstrike took place when Afghan forces came under Taliban attack.

“We don’t know who were firing at Afghans, but the Afghan and US forces have the right to take retaliatory action in self-defence,” he said.

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