Sep 7, 2009, 8:12 GMT
Paris - Last week's NATO airstrike in Afghanistan that killed dozens of people was a gross error of judgment, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in an interview published Monday in the French daily Le Figaro.
'What an error of judgment. More than 90 deaths for a simple lorry, which was moreover immobilized in a riverbed. Why didn't they send ground troops to recover the fuel tank?' Karzai said.
Depending on the source, between 50 to more than 120 people were killed in Friday's bombardment of two fuel lorries reportedly seized by the Taliban.,
In addition to dozens of Taliban fighters, an unknown number of civilians were also killed in the airstrike
In the interview, Karzai also accused Western journalists of trying to destabilize the Afghan government by printing reports of widespraud fraud in last month's presidential elections.
'It is very disappointing how British and American media have not respected these elections,' he said. 'These journalists are trying to destabilize the future Afghan government. If this media manipulation is aimed at installing a puppet government, it will not work.'
Karzai, who has a sizeable lead in the vote count, also accused the US government of using unfounded accusations of corruption against his family and allies to make him more manageable.
'The Americans attack Karzai in an underhanded fashion, because they would like him to be more docile,' he said. 'They are wrong. It is in no one's interest for the Afghan president to become an American puppet.'
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