General: U.S. airstrikes killed Taliban

The regional U.S. air commander stands by initial reports that American airstrikes killed scores of Taliban in two western Afghan villages in recent weeks _ not 72 or more civilians, as Afghan officials and other witnesses say.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Gary North, chief of the Central Command's air component, noted that investigations into the attacks, in Herat province on April 27-29, and Helmand province on May 8, are still under way.

When asked whether he believes 136 suspected Taliban were killed in the Herat attacks, as reported by the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan at the time, North said, "I've not seen anything that would determine otherwise."

Regional officials of the U.S.-allied Afghan government said on May 2 that the Herat attacks killed at least 51 civilians, including women and children. Villagers later told reporters no Taliban were present, and villagers themselves had fired on the Americans after the troops raided their homes and shot two old men dead.

In Helmand, the coalition said a "significant" number of militants died in the air attacks. But the provincial governor said at least 21 civilians died in the bombing, which he said occurred after militants sought shelter in village homes.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, reacting to the continuing civilian deaths in U.S. air and ground operations, said on May 2 his government could "no longer accept" such casualties. On May 8, the Afghan parliament's upper house adopted a resolution calling for a military cease-fire and negotiations with the Taliban.

In an Associated Press interview late Sunday, North said he had not seen the eyewitness reports that those killed by his Central Command planes were civilians.

Since the 2001 anti-Taliban invasion, Afghans have repeatedly protested large-scale killings of civilians in coalition air attacks.

Richard Bennett, the U.N. human rights chief in Afghanistan, on Monday pressed insurgents and Afghan and international forces to avoid combat in populated areas, saying the U.N. tally of civilian deaths had climbed to as many as 380 in the first four months of this year.

The number of bombs dropped in Afghanistan has far surpassed the number in Iraq in recent years. Some suggest it's because there are too few U.S. ground troops in Afghanistan and the target areas are far removed from the eyes of the international media. North disagreed, saying the Afghan enemy is more easily identified than the insurgents in Iraq, and often comes in larger groups.

"What we see in Afghanistan more often is not the single or four or five insurgents, but larger numbers _ 10 or 20 or maybe 30," he said. "We have seen upwards of 100 people on a trail, and so to affect that target area sometimes we'll drop more than one munition. For taking down an enemy compound, we may put nine bombs on the compound."

He said his pilots often decide against dropping bombs in combat because "there's a very deliberate checklist, which includes our lawyers, which sit side by side with us in the (command center)," making judgments on the suitability of targets under the laws of war.

The general was interviewed his headquarters base. As a condition for visiting the base, journalists are required by the Air Force to withhold the identity of the host country, because of local political sensitivities to the U.S. presence.

Bennett, chief of human rights for the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, said in Kabul that the U.N. has counted between 320 and 380 civilians killed in military operations and militant violence in the first four months of the year. He said the issue of civilian deaths by U.S. or NATO troops is complex and "difficult to disentangle."

"In some cases, people are said to be Taliban by one side and claimed to be civilians by the other," he said. "Many Afghans have weapons in their homes, and they may protect their homes. They might not be Taliban. On the other hand, they might be Taliban or other insurgents."