Afghanistan apologises to US for two military officers' death

Washington: Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak has apologised to his US counterpart Leon Panetta for the killing of two American military officers in Kabul, the Pentagon said. “Afghan Defence Minister Wardak offered his condolences in a phone call with the (Defence) Secretary. Minister Wardak also apologised for the incident,” Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said. “This act is unacceptable, and the United States condemns it in the strongest possible terms,” he said. Panetta supports the decision made by General John Allen, the top commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, to protect its forces by immediately recalling ISAF personnel working in ministries around Kabul, he said. [caption id=“attachment_414054” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Appreciated Wardak’s call, Panetta urged the Afghan government to take decisive action to protect coalition forces and curtail the violence in Afghanistan after a challenging week in the country. “Minister Wardak said President Karzai was assembling the religious leaders, parliamentarians, justices of the Supreme Court, and other senior Afghan officials to take urgent steps to do so,” Little said. In Kabul, Allen met with Afghan Interior Minister Mohammadi, who offered both his condolences to the families and his apologies. The Afghan Minister pledged his complete cooperation in investigating yesterday’s tragedy and in taking stronger measures to protect ISAF personnel. “The US remains dedicated to working with the Afghan people against the common threat of violent extremism and to build an Afghanistan that can secure and govern itself,” said Little. Yesterday, a gunman killed two US military advisers, a colonel and a major, with shots to the back of the head inside the high security Interior Ministry building in Kabul. PTI