EU ministers criticised NATO on Saturday after an air strike in Afghanistan that local officials said killed scores of people, many of them civilians, Reuters reported. The attack, which damaged efforts to win "hearts and minds" in the country, took place a day before EU foreign ministers met in Stockholm to discuss ways to boost Western efforts to stabilise Afghanistan and stem insurgency. Asked what more the bloc could do to improve the situation, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters: "It is difficult to say, but mainly to work with the Afghan people and not to bomb them, not only to bomb them." Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn called Friday's air strike in Kunduz province an "unacceptable catastrophe". "It's very difficult to accept and understand why bombs should be dropped so quickly," he said. "Dropping bombs in a country where we are there to protect the civilian population is something that should be very exceptional and what happened yesterday I can't accept." British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Friday any civilian casualties were "dangerous" for the Western mission. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Fererro-Waldner called it "a great tragedy" which should be investigated immediately.
