KABUL, Afghanistan -- The American commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David D. McKiernan, expressed regret yesterday at the loss of civilian life in the airstrikes last week in western Afghanistan. He offered to conduct a joint investigation with the Afghan government and the United Nations to resolve broad discrepancies in accounts of what had happened.
The general said he did not agree with the U.N. and Afghan government reports that as many as 90 civilians were killed in the bombardment. But he raised the military's tally of all those killed, including militants, to up to 40, in an interview at his Kabul headquarters.
His overall estimate was slightly higher than that of an official Pentagon review released this week, which repeats the military's earlier assessment that five civilians and 25 militants were killed in the raid on the night of Aug. 21 and into the early morning of Aug. 22. But McKiernan also said that just five civilians were among those killed.
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