NATO "unaware" of British plea on Afghan civilians

BRUSSELS, Aug 9 (Reuters) NATO said today it was not aware of any request by a British NATO commander for the United States to withdraw special forces from his area of operations in southern Afghanistan due to high civilian casualties.

The International Herald Tribune today quoted an unnamed senior British commander in Afghanistan's Helmand province as saying he made the request as the casualties had made it difficult to win over local people.

''NATO headquarters is unaware of such a request,'' NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said in Brussels. ''Coordination on the ground is excellent between Operation Enduring Freedom and ISAF forces, also in the way operations are allocated.'' Romero said ISAF, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, had taken steps to minimise civilian casualties and understood that a separate US-led force code-named Operation Enduring Freedom had done the same.

''When our forces take fire from an Afghan house, for example, the on-scene commander must satisfy themselves to make sure that the Afghan facility does not suffer innocent civilian casualties.'' Romero said the commander of ISAF had ordered use of precision weapons systems and munitions to minimise civilian casualties and NATO had ordered a stronger system of reporting in after-action reviews that would involve Afghan forces.

MOUNTING CASUALTIES NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer last month acknowledged mounting civilian casualties had hurt support for NATO, and said commanders had ordered troops to hold off on attacks in some situations where civilians were at risk.

The International Herald Tribune report put the number of civilian casualties this year in Helmand at close to 300, most caused by foreign and Afghan forces, not the Taliban.

It quoted the British commander as saying that in the district of Sangin, which had been calm for a month, there was no longer a need for special forces.

''There aren't large bodies of Taliban to fight any more,'' he said. ''We are dealing with small groups and we are trying to kick-start reconstruction and development.'' The paper said small teams of special forces relied heavily on air strikes for cover as they are unable to defend themselves if they encounter a large group of insurgents.

It said the teams had often called in air strikes and civilians had been found to suffer casualties. It quoted unnamed British officers as saying the Americans had caused the lion's share of casualties in their area.

The paper quoted unnamed British commanders as saying that after 18 months of heavy fighting since British forces arrived in the province last spring they were finally making headway in securing key areas, but were in the difficult position of trying to win back support from people who had been victims of bombing.

President Hamid Karzai, facing criticism over perceived lack of development, rampant corruption and crime, growing insecurity and a booming drugs trade, has warned civilian deaths would have dire consequences for his government and the foreign troops.

REUTERS GL KN1622