Afghan leader sends demands to US on troop conduct

The Afghan president has sent a list of demands to the United States government about troop conduct ahead of the arrival of more U.S. forces, pressing for cooperation with his government. President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly called for foreign troops to do more to prevent civilian deaths during strikes and raids. He also wants them to show more respect for the country's traditional Muslim culture, in which men can cause great affront by entering a house with women inside. In a speech Thursday, he said he asked last month that the U.S. cooperate with the Afghan government and security forces in all its operations. "Part of that list was that they shouldn't, on their own, enter the houses of our people and bombard our villages and detain our people," Karzai said. Karzai did not say if he had received any response from the U.S., and a spokesman for the presidency could not be reached for further details. U.S. officials were not available for immediate comment. Still, American officials have quietly acknowledged they hesitate to share detailed plans of raids against militant commanders for fear that government officials connected to the Taliban could tip off the militants. Karzai spoke the day after the U.N. chief in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, called for international military forces to revise their agreements with the Afghan government to include practices that will better safeguard civilians. The U.N. said in September that 577 Afghan civilians had been killed this year by U.S., NATO and Afghan troops, a 21 percent jump from 2007. However, the U.N. tally said Taliban fighters and other insurgents had killed even more civilians: at least 800 this year. Many coalition raids and strikes do occur with Afghan army troops or Afghan police, but not all, and there is not a standardized code of conduct across forces on how to operate in Afghan towns and villages.