Afghanistan is not asking international soldiers to leave the war-torn country, a government spokesman said Tuesday, but wants a review of the rules regulating the presence of the forces.
Kabul on Monday demanded the review of the forces — deployed under NATO and a separate US-led coalition — in Afghanistan, after a high number of civilian deaths in recent US-led air strikes.
"We don't want the foreign forces to leave Afghanistan. This is not Afghanistan's government demand nor the demand of Afghanistan's people," said President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, Homayun Hamidzada.
"We need the foreign forces, until our own military institutions are able to defend Afghanistan," he told reporters in Kabul. "A timetable for their withdrawal is not included in our demands."
Kabul's demand for a review follows the alleged killing of more than 90 civilians during an operation by the US-led force in western province of Herat on Friday.
A United Nations team said Tuesday it found "convincing evidence" that 90 civilians, including 60 children, were killed in US-led air strikes in Azizabad village in Herat province's Shindand district.
The US military acknowledged two women and three children were slain in the operation that also killed a Taliban target, and was investigating the allegations of more civilian deaths, according to a military spokesman.
