PAJHWOK (Afghanistan), L’EXPRESS (France)
PUL-I-ALAM – At least 17 civilians were killed during a NATO air strike in Afghanistan on Wednesday morning, Afghan news agency Pajhwok reports. The attack struck the Logar Province, in the eastern part of the country: women and children were among the victims. The intended target of the raid was the house a local tribal elder, in which a Taliban commander was hiding.
The tragedy follows last month’s Chicago NATO summit during which the organization announced details of a planned withdrawal of the international troops by 2014. But several NATO countries have begun an early withdrawal of their soldiers, including France, whose new President François Hollande traveled to Kabul after the Chicago summit to follow through on a campaign promise to bring home French troops by the end of 2012, as detailed the French magazine L’Express.