Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered his government to begin work on plans to control operations by foreign troops in a bid to stop rising numbers of civilian casualties, his office said on Thursday. The rising civilian death toll as Afghan and foreign troops battle a growing Taleban insurgency has become a politically explosive issue, eroding support for Karzai's government, its foreign backers and coalition troops. Some 2,000 civilians were killed last year in violence related to the insurgency, the UN and aid agencies say. Public anger rose when US air strikes hit homes full of women and children during a battle with the Taleban in western Afghanistan early last month. Karzai says 140 civilians died in those strikes, although the US military disputes that number. The Afghan president has since demanded that foreign forces halt air strikes in his country but that was rebuffed by US officials. A draft plan seeking to coordinate strikes by foreign forces more closely with the Afghan government would be released soon, said Karzai's chief spokesman Humayoun Hamidzada. “On the basis of the president's instruction, the foreign and defence ministries and other security organs are seriously working on a plan as to how to deal with this issue,” he said. The lower house of Afghanistan's parliament last month demanded legal restrictions on foreign troops to prevent further civilian deaths, including the prosecution of foreign troops under Afghan law. Some lawmakers have warned that failure to curb the foreign troops and stop civilian deaths would lead to an uprising against the Western soldiers. Others say the issue is also undermining the legitimacy of Karzai's government.
