Civilian casualties over the last ten years in Afghanistan have been a major issue raised by Afghan government, in particular by President Hamid Karzai. A civilian under international humanitarian law is defined to be a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. It is very difficult to distinguish between civilians and combatants in areas of war. But modern army soldiers are regularly instructed to exercise extra cautions to avoid civilian deaths. International forces have been making efforts to avoid them. In Afghanistan, it is mainly terrorism and insurgency warfare.

The terrorists and insurgents cause civilian deaths in a number of ways: 1) the terrorists and insurgents use women and children to carry out suicide bombings. 2) The terrorists aim to terrify people by causing mass casualties so as to draw public attention. 3) They appear as civilians among a residential area or use them as human shield to deceive the government forces with the aim to produce public outrage when the government forces/other legitimate forces unintentionally kill civilians in operations conducted to counter terrorists and insurgents.

On Saturday, June 09, 2012, President Karzai warned that the civilian casualties would put the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) with the United States of America at risk. It was also stated that continuation of night raids and air strikes without coordination with Afghan forces must be stopped. The warnings came three days after NATO air raids killed some 18 civilians in central province of Logar.

The top commander of NATO and US forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen apologized to Karzai for the civilian casualties in Logar. He promised that foreign troops would not conduct airstrikes on civilian houses and populated areas.

While it is good to have foreign troops exercise cautions and coordinate their air operations with Afghan security forces, it is also providing the Taliban and other militants to continue to take shelter in residential areas to attack Afghan and international forces.

Reports by UNAMA and other organizations indicate that the Taliban are the main cause of civilian deaths. In this way, the government is tying the hands of Afghan and foreign soldiers and untying the hands of the brutal insurgents.

Unfortunately, President Karzai has never travelled to local communities to ask them to cooperate with the government and not to allow evil forces to infiltrate into their localities. Instead he has welcomed the Taliban to continue their deadly suicides by calling them as his upset brothers and labeling the international troops as "occupation forces."