Afghanistan parliament calls for regulation of foreign forces in wake of air strikes News
Afghanistan parliament calls for regulation of foreign forces in wake of air strikes

[JURIST] Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga [official website], the lower house of the Afghan parliament, on Monday demanded that restrictions be placed on foreign forces to avoid further civilian casualties before recessing in protest of recent air strikes. Wolesi Jirga secretary Abdul Sattar Khawaasi said that parliament has given the government one week to come up with a plan to regulate US and other foreign troops [Reuters report]. Afghan President Hamid Karzai [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] also called for an end to US air strikes [CNN report] on Friday after attacks last week reportedly left more than 140 civilians dead. US President Barack Obama's national security adviser retired Gen. James Jones told ABC Sunday that the US would not end air strikes [interview transcript].

On Saturday, the US-led coalition in Afghanistan and the Afghan government issued a joint statement admitting that civilians were killed [AFP report] in last week's attacks. No numbers were released, as the statement said it was impossible to tell how many civilians and how many Taliban [JURIST news archive] members were killed. On Sunday, the US replaced its top commander [Guardian report] in Afghanistan General David McKiernan with Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal after McKiernan had spent only 11 months on the job.