Karzai and his National Security Council met the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, on Sunday and discussed last week’s raid, Karzai’s spokesman, Waheed Omer, said.
“This was an irresponsible way of dealing with an issue within Kabul city and that was clearly conveyed,” Omer told a news conference, adding that the security council also said the operation had been “unnecessary”.
On Monday, bullet holes could be seen in some of the windows in the Tiger International compound in north Kabul.
“The raid was a violation and was not based on correct information,” Mohammad Zaher, head of criminal investigations for the police in Kabul, told Reuters. “This was a one-sided operation without the coordination of Kabul’s police.”
“The method of the operation was wrong,” he said. “When we arrived at the scene people were asking for help, but the foreigners were firing in all directions.”
He said two police generals who had known about the raid, but were not involved in the operation, had been suspended for not telling higher authorities.
Two Afghan security guards were killed, two wounded and 13 apprehended in the raid, ISAF said. All those detained were later released after a senior Afghan commander vouched for them.
Rules governing raids by foreign forces were tightened in 2009. Under the new rules, raids must be cleared by Afghan authorities first and must involve Afghan troops.
The incident follows two others this week in which NATO forces killed Afghan civilians.
President Hamid Karzai has ordered private security companies in Afghanistan to be disbanded, although some will be exempt, such as those protecting diplomatic missions or aid and development projects. Earlier this week, the Interior Ministry official in charge of the process, Gen. Abdul Manan Farahi, said 57 such firms had already been shut down.
Source: Agencies