US rejects Italy's call to withdraw from Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States yesterday 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.

"All of these forces ... take the greatest possible care to avoid civilian casualties," McCormack said.

The UN mission in Kabul estimated in early July that some 600 civilians had been killed since the start of the year, more than half by Afghan and international forces.

D'Alema, quoted by the ANSA news agency, said: "The civilian casualties resulting from recent operations against the Taliban are morally unacceptable. They are a real disaster politically and have created major tensions between the Afghan government and the international forces."

"We think it would be advisable to end" Enduring Freedom, D'Alema said.

NATO has led the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF), with contingents from 37 countries totaling around 39,000 men, since 2003. It has been in charge of almost all international operations in the country since the east came under its authority in late 2006.

Italy's 2,500 men are mainly based in a calmer area in the west.

An international conference in Rome early this month on rebuilding the justice system in Afghanistan was dominated by debate over mounting civilian casualties there.