Repay

Is it a repay or else? now see.

US commanders on Tuesday traveled to a poor Afghan village and distributed $40,000 to relatives of 15 people killed in a US raid, including a known militant commander. The Americans also apologised for any civilians killed in the operation.

The issue of civilian deaths is increasingly sensitive in Afghanistan, with President Hamid Karzai accusing the US of killing civilians in three separate cases over the last month. Karzai has repeatedly warned the US and NATO, saying such deaths undermine his government and the international mission.

In Washington, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates echoed Karzai's concerns, telling a Senate committee that "civilian casualties are doing us enormous harm in Afghanistan."

As US commanders paid villagers near 15 newly dug graves, Karzai met Tuesday in the capital with relatives of some of those killed. He told the villagers he has given the US and Nato one month to respond to a draft agreement calling for increased Afghan participation in military operations.

Karzai said if he does not receive a response within that time, he would ask Afghans what he should do about international military operations.

The statement from the presidential palace describing the meeting did not elaborate.

The US is doubling its troop presence in Afghanistan this year to take on the Taliban militia; the Taliban and other militants now control wide swaths of territory. Last year, 151 US troops died in Afghanistan, the most in any year since the US invaded the Taliban-ruled country in late 2001 for sheltering Osama bin Laden.

Col Greg Julian, the top US spokesman in Afghanistan, led Tuesday's delegation into the village of Inzeri, a small collection of stone and mud homes set high in a steep, rocky valley. Insurgents have a strong presence in the region just 50 kilometres north of Kabul.

A raid the night of Jan 19 killed 15 people in Inzeri, including a targeted militant commander named Mullah Patang.

Afghan officials admit that Patang was killed, but villagers say civilians also died and have pressed their complaints with US officials and Karzai.

The US regularly makes payments to Afghan relatives of those killed in operations, but the payments are rarely publicized.

After killing a lot of people in Afghanistan, isn't it a joke? Rather if they could live alone, it would be a bit better. Laden is not in anywhere , if he really is , he is in deep shelter by large powers of the world.