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    November 29, 2011

NATO to Retrain All Troops in Afghanistan on Protecting Civilians

   VOA News
   NATO and Afghan troops attend to casualties during a battle with
   Taliban insurgents who took over a building near the U.S. embassy in
   Kabul September 14, 2011. Photo: Reuters
   NATO and Afghan troops attend to casualties during a battle with
   Taliban insurgents who took over a building near the U.S. embassy in
   Kabul September 14, 2011.

   NATO's top commander in Afghanistan has ordered tens of thousands of
   troops to be retrained in the coming days in how to avoid civilian
   casualties during counter-insurgency operations.
   U.S. General John Allen announced the retraining program in a letter to
   Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has frequently complained about
   deaths and injuries to Afghan civilians caught in the crossfire of NATO
   operations against Taliban militants. A U.S. military official
   confirmed the letter and its contents in an email sent to VOA on
   Tuesday.
   In the letter, General Allen says NATO forces will aggressively pursue
   retraining in methods of employing force against insurgents while
   protecting Afghan civilians. He ordered all NATO units to complete the
   retraining by Monday. NATO has about 140,00 troops in Afghanistan
   fighting a 10-year-long Taliban insurgency, with around 100,000 of
   those from the United States.
   A NATO airstrike targeting insurgents killed six children and one adult
   in the Zhari district of Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar on
   November 23.
   NATO troop commanders say Taliban and other insurgents regularly use
   Afghan civilians as human shields while attacking coalition and Afghan
   security forces and officials.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

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