US Defense Secretary Arrives in Afghanistan
VOA News
02 September 2010
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is in Afghanistan for meetings with President Hamid Karzai and the commander of NATO forces in the country, U.S. General David Petraeus.
Gates landed in Kabul Thursday from Baghdad, where he attended ceremonies Wednesday marking the end of the U.S. military's seven-year combat mission in Iraq.
Just as the U.S. defense secretary arrived, President Karzai announced that a NATO air strike hit a convoy of election campaign workers Thursday in the north, killing 10 civilians.
He condemned the strike. NATO said an investigation is underway. Civilian casualties have long been a source of tension between the Karzai government and U.S. and NATO forces. General Petraeus has pledged to review military operations to ensure the safety of Afghan civilians.
NATO also reported that two American soldiers and and 28 insurgents, including a Taliban commander, have been killed in the latest fighting in Afghanistan.
The U.S. soldiers were killed Thursday in separate attacks in the east and the south, regions where Taliban militants are strongest. This week has been deadly for U.S. troops with an spate of militant attacks that left killed at least 21 soldiers.
The Taliban commander was killed Wednesday as he rode a motorcyle in eastern Paktike province, NATO said. The commander was said to have led a group of insurgents involved in laying roadside bombs and smuggling foreign fighters into Afghanistan.
In other fighting, NATO forces repelled an attack on a coalition outpost in the eastern province of Paktika Thursday, killing 20 insurgents. Elsewhere, NATO said it killed five insurgents in an air strike Thursday in the eastern province of Ghazni. It says the insurgents were seen planting a roadside bomb.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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