NATO commander apologizes for airstrike on Afghan TV

KABUL - The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan went on national television yesterday to apologize for a deadly airstrike, an extraordinary attempt to regain Afghans' trust while a mass offensive continues against the Taliban in the south.

Two U.S. Marine battalions, accompanied by Afghan troops, pushing from the north and south of the insurgent stronghold of Marjah, finally linked up after more than a week, creating a direct route across the town to allow convoys to supply ammunition and reinforcements.

In a video translated into the Afghan languages of Dari and Pashto and broadcast on Afghan television, a stern Gen. Stanley McChrystal apologized for the strike in central Uruzgan province that Afghan officials say killed at least 21 people. Other sources said as many as 33 are dead. The video was also posted on a NATO Web site.

"I pledge to strengthen our efforts to regain your trust to build a brighter future for all Afghans," McChrystal said in the video. "I have instituted a thorough investigation to prevent this from happening again."

Sunday's attack by NATO jets on a convoy of cars was the deadliest attack on civilians in six months and prompted a sharp rebuke from the Afghan government. McChrystal apologized directly to President Hamid Karzai shortly after the incident.

NATO said McChrystal made a similar apology via video in the fall when U.S. pilots bombed two hijacked fuel tankers near the northern town of Kunduz. Afghan leaders estimated that 30 to 40 civilians were killed.

The civilian deaths occurred as 15,000 NATO, U.S. and Afghan soldiers were in their 10th day of fighting insurgents in the town in Helmand province. A Romanian soldier was killed yesterday and another was wounded in a bombing in southern Afghanistan unrelated to the offensive, Romanian officials said.

At least 919 U.S. service members have died in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001, according to an Associated Press count.

Although the airstrike was not related to the Marjah offensive, civilian casualties undermine NATO's goal of turning back the Taliban and restoring the Afghan people's confidence in their own government - one of the main objectives of the southern operation that hopes to rout the Taliban, set up a local government and rush in aid.

Meanwhile, a morning explosion Tuesday in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, left eight people dead and at least 16 others wounded, according to the Interior Ministry. Police chief Gen. Asadullah Sherzad said explosives in a parked motorbike were detonated by remote control in front of the traffic department.

In Marjah yesterday, U.S. Marines from the 1st and 3rd Battalions, 6th Marine Regiment, finally managed to link up after more than a week of hard marches through insurgent fire and mined poppy fields.

Lt. Col. Brian Christmas, commander of the 3rd Battalion, said NATO forces now control a continuous north-to-south route through town that hinders insurgents' ability to move freely.

Sporadic fighting continued yesterday as strongly entrenched Taliban units appeared to have regrouped in a heavily defended stronghold to the north.