10/01/2014 14:03
Four-year-old boy 'accidentally shot dead' by US forces in Afghanistan
US forces in Afghanistan have accidentally shot dead a four-year-old boy, Afghan officials said on Friday, the latest violence to strain ties between the uneasy allies, Daily Telegraph reported.
The Afghan-US relationship has been damaged by President Hamid Karzai's refusal to sign a bilateral security deal that would pave the way for a US military presence after the withdrawal of most foreign troops this year.
The United States has said its troops cannot remain without a deal. The complete departure of US troops would leave Afghan security forces on their own to battle the Taliban.
Mr Karzai is demanding that the United States end all unilateral military operations on Afghan territory - among other things - before the pact is signed, because they cause avoidable civilian deaths.
"We have called ... for an absolute end to ISAF/NATO military operations on homes and villages in order to avoid such killings where innocent children or civilians are the victims," the president's spokesman, Aimal Faizi, said when commenting on the death of the boy.