Afghan, foreign troops set counter-insurgency training

KABUL, May 5 (Reuters) Afghan and foreign forces will this month train together for the first time in counter-insurgency techniques, the U.S. military said today, as pressure rises over civilian deaths at the hands of Western troops.

A new Afghan counter-insurgency academy, set up nearly six years after US-led forces toppled the Taliban, will train about 100 soldiers and police from Afghanistan and the US-led coalition at its inaugural course in Kabul, the coalition said.

''This academy will change how coalition forces think and plan operations with an appreciation of the cultural environment in Afghanistan,'' Major-General Robert E. Durbin, the head of the US-led coalition force, said in a statement.

''We need to understand how our actions here affect the civilians in Afghanistan.'' Afghan authorities say 70 civilians have been killed by Western forces in recent days, and President Hamid Karzai has warned of serious consequences for all if the bloodshed continued.

NATO, which leads the International Security Assistance Force that works alongside the US-led coalition, pledged this week to improve co-ordination with Afghan authorities to cut civilian casualties.

A US military spokesman said US troops had undergone cultural training in the past but this course, planned for some time, was the first joint counter-insurgency training.

Afghan protesters called this week for the removal of Karzai for failing to stop the civilian killings, which have come amid an upsurge in violence as the Western-backed government and the Taliban seek a decisive advantage in the battle for the country.

While protests over civilian casualties have been small, government officials, NATO and analysts all warn that a steady stream of civilian deaths will erode support for Karzai and the war against the Taliban, who were driven from power in 2001.

Afghan officials say 51 civilians were killed by foreign troops in the past week in the western province of Herat, an area not known as a Taliban stronghold.

Afghans also complain that Western troops are heavy handed in their approach to locals and insult the modesty of Afghan women by bursting in to search homes without warning.

REUTERS DS VC1420