(AKI) - The Taliban are trying to induce American forces to kill civilians, including women and children, in Afghanistan, a senior US government official said on Thursday.James Glassman, the US State Department's under secretary for public diplomacy, was speaking in response to the controversial air strike carried out by American forces that allegedly killed at least 90 civilians in western Afghanistan in August. "The problem of civilian casualties is a big one," he said in a television interview broadcast on the BBC.
Referring to the attack in Azizabad village in the province of Herat on 22 August, he said the issue was being investigated. "We don't really know how many people were killed. But there is no doubt that some civilians were killed in a strike against military targets."
But Glassman also used the TV interview to condemn the Taliban and accused militants of deliberately provoking attacks that targeted civilians. "Let me tell you the difference between the United States and its allies, including Britain and including NATO, and the Taliban," he said. "The difference is when we kill civilians we do it by mistake. We don't want to kill civilians, absolutely not.
"They kill civilians on purpose. Not only that, they try and lead us to kill civilians because then they can use that in their propaganda war against us."
He said that it was time to clarify the difference between the American approach and that of the militants. "They try to get us to kill civilians," he said. "They try to induce us to shoot at targets that include women and children who are completely innocent."
"But the Taliban on the other hand are trying to kill people. They are trying to kill civilians."
He said it was important to remember that Afghanistan wanted to be free and wanted to democracy after living under a vicious Taliban regime. But he recognised that the deaths of civilians hurt the US cause there. "I think we are doing the right thing. The fact that civilians are dying hurts our cause," he said.