CANBERRA – Australia contradicted Afghan President Hamid Karzai Monday over a deadly weekend raid in Afghanistan in search of a “rogue” soldier who killed three Australian troops, adding new strains to an increasingly uneasy international coalition. Karzai's office condemned the raid by NATO-led and Afghan troops, during which a 70-year-old Afghan man and his son were killed, describing it as a “unilateral military operation” in breach of an agreement between Kabul and its foreign allies covering such actions. The raid was launched after three Australian soldiers were killed last week by a rogue Afghan army sergeant who turned his weapon on his trainers, the latest in a spike in “insider” shootings in which 45 foreign troops have been killed this year. International patience is wearing thin with the increasingly unpopular and costly war that has dragged on with few obvious signs of success since US-backed foreign troops toppled the Taliban in late 2001. The dispute between Canberra and Kabul came on the same day that New Zealand, another long-serving member of the NATO-led force, announced an advanced timetable for the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan. Under current plans, most combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014 but New Zealand decided to accelerate its withdrawal after three of its troops were killed by a roadside bomb last month. Australia has been one of the staunchest members of the coalition but Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Defence Minister Stephen Smith hit back at Karzai's criticism of the raid. “Let me be very, very clear. This was an authorised operation, it was a partnered operation, and it was conducted in accordance with our rules of engagement,” Gillard said. She told reporters Australian diplomats had gone to Karzai's palace to explain the raid. Two other Australian troops were killed in a helicopter crash on Thursday, marking Australia's worst combat losses since the Vietnam War and prompting Gillard to return early from a South Pacific regional leaders' summit. – Reuters
