Insurgency attacks and military operations have surged in recent weeks, and in the past 10 days more than 90 civilians have been killed by air strikes and artillery fire targeting Taliban insurgents, said President Hamid Karzai.

Separate figures from the United Nations and an umbrella organization of Afghan and international aid groups show that the numbers of civilians killed by international forces is about equal to those killed by insurgents.

After a seething speech by Karzai on June 23 — in which he accused NATO and U.S. forces of viewing Afghan lives as "cheap" — NATO conceded it had to "do better."

The Japan Times Weekly: June 30, 2007
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