Afghans are tired of both NATO and terrorists - political activist

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says mounting civilian casualties in the Afghanistan war is a serious problem, which Washington is not doing enough to address.

Hundreds of people flooded the streets of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, on Sunday to protest over the deaths of nine children killed in a NATO air raid last week. Protesters directed their anger at the US occupation and the Afghan government.The demonstrations follow the country’s president Hamid Karzai's condemnation of the killings. Hamid Karzai made the statement during a video conference with Barack Obama on Thursday.The statement came a day after NATO apologized for the killing of the nine boys. Preliminary Alliance findings indicate the boys, all of whom were under the age of 13, were killed in an accidental air strike.Afghan journalist Fazelminallah Qazizai argues that the U.S.-led coalition just saying “sorry” is not enough for Afghans.“The Americans and [NATO] are repeatedly bombing the villages and the countryside. And the only alternative for the Afghans now is to stop the war and pull out the troops from Afghanistan,” said Qazizai.Civilian casualties are a sensitive issue in Afghanistan, where over 100 innocent Afghans have been killed in NATO military operations in recent weeks. Estimates also suggest over nine thousand Afghan civilians have been killed by the NATO military since 2001.Political activist Daoud Sultanzoy says Afghans have become the target of the U.S.-led war on terror.“The people of Afghanistan, the civilians, the victims of both – NATO civilian casualties and the terrorists who come with suicide bombings and with indiscriminate targeting of civilian areas – the people of Afghanistan are tired of both,” Sultanzoy said.