"Airstrikes are not acceptable," Karzai told CNN on
Friday.
"We believe strongly that air strikes are not an
effective way of fighting terrorism, that air strikes
rather cause civilian casualties," he said.
The New York Times and CNN on
Friday quoted unnamed Pentagon sources saying a
preliminary inquiry investigation indicated that
US raids resulted in some of the civilian casualties
in the western Farah province.
Afghan police have maintained that more than 100
people - about 70 of them civilians - were killed in
raids and ground fighting in two villages on Monday.
Colonel Greg Julian, a spokesman for US forces
in Afghanistan, refused to comment on
the reported outcome of the investigation, but said
the death toll given by Afghan police was "grossly
exaggerated".
"There were civilian casualties no doubt," he said
on Friday after US military and Afghan teams returned
from a joint investigation in Farah.
"But the conclusion from the investigation has not
been reached, and it's inappropriate to indicate one
way or the other how they were caused."
Karzai dismissed the possibility that Taliban had
caused the civilian casualties and said the toll could
be even higher than 100.
"I got definitive word from the government this
morning that there were more than 100 casualties -
nearly 125 to 130 civilians lost. Deaths - children,
women and men - and it was done by the bombings,"
Karzai said.
'Civilians as cover'
Julian said earlier that the Taliban had used
civilian positions as cover for attacks on US and
coalition troops.
"[Civilian casualties] are always a possibility
when conducting counterinsurgency activity," he said.
"We are here to protect the civilian population and
we take this very seriously. The last thing we want to
have happen is innocent civilians to be injured or
killed."
During a visit to Kabul on Thursday, Robert Gates,
the US secretary of defence, said he heard reports
that grenades were thrown into homes by the Taliban
during clashes, which created casualties that could be
blamed on US forces.
Hundreds of Afghans gathered to denounce the
killings and demanded that US troops leave
Afghanistan.
The US government has come under increasing
criticism during the past year for civilian deaths
during operations against Taliban and al-Qaeda
fighters in Afghanistan.
Barack Obama, the US president, and other
Washington officials have repeatedly expressed regret
for civilian casualties and vowed to take measures
that would avoid future attacks.
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