KABUL (New York Times) — In unusually firm remarks, the chief of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan said there was an “urgent need to review” the Special Operations forces here.

The official, Kai Eide, called the political costs of civilian casualties from special operations raids “disproportionate to the military gains,” and said the Special Operations forces needed to become “more Afghanized.”
His comments, made in a video conference call from Kabul with NATO ministers in Brussels on Friday and released on Saturday, were the latest sign of just how worried some United Nations and military officials are that the fallout from civilian casualties is jeopardizing the American-led mission in Afghanistan. Special Operations forces, which conduct raids against high-level insurgent targets, have been criticized for relying heavily on airstrikes when they come under fire from militants during raids and house searches in villages. An aide to Mr. Eide said that his call to have the forces “Afghanized” means having Afghans conduct the raids.
“We must all make sure that the training of military personnel is such that they are fully aware of Afghan sensitivities,” said Mr. Eide, a Norwegian diplomat. “We cannot eliminate civilian casualties, but we cannot afford mistakes that lead to the loss of civilian lives, the alienation of the population and media headlines month after month that overshadow all the positive trends.” The use of airstrikes by American Special Operations forces has resulted in two high-profile cases of civilian casualties that bookend Mr. Eide’s 15-month tenure in Kabul, the capital.
Last August, airstrikes in Azizabad, in western Afghanistan, killed more than 90 civilians, the majority of them women and children, according to the Afghan government, human rights groups, intelligence officials, and a United Nations investigation. The United States military said that 30 civilians had died. In May, American airstrikes in Farah Province killed dozens of Afghan civilians, the result of significant errors by American forces, according to an American military investigation.
Both events touched off outrage among the Afghan public and leaders like President Hamid Karzai, who harshly criticized foreign troops. American military commanders have promised to address the problem. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and the new commander of American forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, attended the NATO meeting on Friday and spoke afterward of the need to minimize civilian casualties.
The number of civilian casualties rose 40 percent in 2008, according to the United Nations. Most were caused by the Taliban and other insurgents, who killed nearly 1,300 civilians last year. The United Nations attributed 828 civilian deaths to international and Afghan forces, mostly from airstrikes and village raids.
On Friday night, a suicide bomber driving a pickup truck detonated his payload of explosives in a hotel parking lot used by NATO trucks in Helmand Province, killing four Afghan drivers and wounding eight, Afghan officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, in Gereshk District, and said it killed 33 security guards and burned 17 vehicles, mostly fuel tankers. “In the future, we will continue to target convoys and those who escort and drive them,” said Qari Yousuf Ahmad, a Taliban spokesman.
A NATO official said the attack would have “absolutely no effect on our supplies,” because the forces possess ample storage supplies around the country. “We have so many different ways of getting into the country,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
As the American-led war intensifies in this landlocked nation, and as security in Pakistan deteriorates, the issue of supply lines has become a source of concern.