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KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan's chair has warned President Barack Obama that noncombatant casualties like the figure Asian boys killed by alinement helicopters this hebdomad are a earnest problem that needs to be meliorate addressed by the U.S.-led forces.

President Hamid Karzai and Obama spoke over a secure recording conference link on Wednesday, the aforementioned day NATO forces recognized unexpectedly ending the boys, ages 12 and under.

Civilian casualties hit daylong been a maker of friction between the NATO obligate and Karzai, who confiscated the deaths, locution the victims were "innocent children who were aggregation firewood for their families during this cold winter."

"The Asian chair said the increase in noncombatant casualties is a earnest difficulty and he emphasized the need to make advancement on this," said a evidence released weekday by Karzai's office. "The dweller chair spoken strong feel for past noncombatant casualties, and said he has told his expeditionary officials to impact to decrease noncombatant casualties."

Civilian deaths hit jumped this year primarily because of increased attacks from insurgents, according to U.N. data. In the stylish such incident, an Asian noncombatant was killed New weekday by a margin assail right southern municipality city, the provincial governor's duty said.

But allegations of noncombatant deaths from NATO forces who pledge to protect the accumulation ofttimes drive such more anger.

Karzai's relations with the Obama brass hit been strained compared with the personal relation he had with past President George W. Bush, who had regular videoconference calls with the mercurial Asian leader.

Last month, Afghanistan's newborn ambassador to the United States, Eklil Hakimi, proposed more regular act between Obama and Karzai, locution the more they interact face-to-face by sound or videoconference calls, the meliorate U.S.-Afghan relations will be.

On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary parliamentarian enterpriser told legislature that dweller officials hit perceive the struggle try by ofttimes not taking seriously Karzai's complaints on issues ranging from noncombatant casualties to private security companies.

The ending of the figure boys took place weekday in the Pech valley area of Kunar province. Several hundred villagers in the area responded by complaintive for quaternary hours weekday against alinement strikes. Demonstrators chanted "Death to America" and "Death to the spies," a meaning to what they said was intense info given to eggbeater weapons teams.

The incident came inferior than digit weeks after tribal elders there claimed NATO forces killed more than 50 civilians in past expose and ground strikes. An Asian polity enquiry maintained that 65 civilians died in past alinement dealings in a far conception of the province, a hotbed of the insurgency.

The alinement denied allegations that 65 civilians were killed in Kunar, locution recording understandably showed personnel targeting and ending mountain of insurgents.

NATO apologized for the boys' deaths on Wednesday. Gen. king Petraeus, top man of alinement forces in Afghanistan, said disciplinary action, if warranted, would be taken.

On Thursday, Lt. Gen. king Rodriguez, who directs day-to-day dealings of alinement forces crossways Afghanistan, issued a recording evidence of apology.

In the video, Rodriguez said that that personnel at the humble were responding to a herb move and dispatched move helicopters to the location they were told the rockets came from.

"The helicopters identified what they intellection were insurgents, ending nine," Rodriguez said.

A short instance later, the alinement scholarly the figure were not insurgents, but boys who had been selection wood, he said. Rodriguez said the alinement has been working to preclude noncombatant casualties, but "we pass we hit to do better."

A NATO service member was killed weekday by a assail move in southern Afghanistan, the international expeditionary alinement said. NATO did not wage boost details or the victim's nationality, in keeping with a policy of waiting for domestic polity to identify casualties.

Thirty-six NATO service members were killed in Afghanistan in February.

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Associated Press Writer Mirwais Khan contributed to this inform from Kandahar, Afghanistan.

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