By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON – U.S. military leaders will take extra steps to ensure innocent Afghan civilians are not killed or hurt in combat operations, but U.S. forces will retain the means of self-defense, Pentagon officials said Tueday.
Following a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of U.S and NATO forces in Afghanistan, issued an order saying there would be no bombing of civilian homes except in cases of self-defense.
There have been a few instances of NATO aircraft bombing targets and causing the deaths of innocent civilians. “The number of events directed against civilian compounds is a very small percentage of events in which air-delivered munitions are used,” Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said. “We do retain the right of
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