US rejects Italy's call to withdraw from Afghanistan

AFP

The United States on Wednesday rejected Italy's call to end the US military mission in Afghanistan over what Rome termed "morally unacceptable" civilian casualties.

Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema had told a parliamentary committee that lack of coordination between US and NATO-led international forces are to blame for civilian deaths.

But US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack blamed the enemy for the civilian casualties.

"Taliban forces, Al-Qaeda forces, will very often use innocent civilians, including children, as human shields with the thought that that will prevent an attack," he said.

McCormack said the US mission, "Operation Enduring Freedom, and the NATO mission are separate missions yet complementary missions" with different duties and concentrated in different parts of the country.

Some 11,000 troops including 8,000 Americans, 1,000 Australians and 200 South Koreans take part in Enduring Freedom, which was launched in October 2001 against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

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