United States offers troops to Afghan village

KAKARAK, Afghanistan -- The United States may station troops in the area where a recent American airstrike killed scores of civilians in a move to encourage local development and improve community relations, the commander of U.S. forces said Sunday.\nLt. Gen. Dan K. McNeill flew to this village in Uruzgan province less than a week after an attack that Afghans say killed 48 people, including 25 members of an extended family attending a wedding. Another 117 people were reportedly wounded in the attack last Monday.\nThe attack, the latest in a series of "friendly fire" mishaps, threatens to sour relations between the Americans and the Afghans and undermine the ongoing war on terrorism in this country.\nMcNeill's visit was clearly designed to patch up relations rather than get to the bottom of the Monday raid. No mention was made of the airstrike.\nInstead, the crewcut general sat cross-legged on the floor of a mud compound, sharing orange sodas with tribal elders and the Uruzgan governor and discussing ways U.S. forces could provide humanitarian assistance while at the same time fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida.\nMcNeill said U.S. forces could be stationed in the district so that international aid workers would feel safe enough to come and help the villagers rebuild their lives after two decades of war.\n"They asked us if we would put some (U.S. soldiers) here that would stay here, and we're thinking that that's probably in our best interests," McNeill said. "This is an area in which we've worked often so we propose to put some U.S. forces here and then we will probably bring in teams that can help with the liaison to humanitarian assistance."\nThat's what the village elders wanted to hear.\n"Our hospitals are not in good shape," elder Abdul Rahim said. "Our schools are not in good shape. Everything is destroyed. Twenty-three years of war have destroyed everything here."\nThe mud compound where the general met the elders was located only a few yards from buildings damaged in the raid. U.S. officials said an AC-130 gunship attacked after four anti-aircraft guns were seen firing at U.S. planes, including some from the compound where the wedding party was hit.\nThe Afghans denied targeting U.S. planes, and American investigators found no trace of any anti-aircraft gun in the compound where the partygoers died. McNeill ordered a more thorough investigation to determine what happened.\nAfter the meeting, McNeill told The Associated Press that some people were angry with the Americans for the attack. However, he said, regional officials recognize that the United States did not intend to kill civilians.\nTwo days ago, Uruzgan Gov. Jan Mohammed Khan, who attended the Sunday gathering, warned that Afghans were ready to launch a jihad, or holy war, against the Americans unless attacks on civilians stopped.\nOn Sunday, however, Khan said he would be "very happy" to see American troops stationed in the district.\n"You are welcome here always. Now, today and in the future," Rahim added.\nMcNeill asked Khan if he would help find people to join the new Afghan national army, which U.S. forces are helping to train to try to keep Afghanistan secure. "We will find people, young people," Khan said.\nU.S. special forces troops have been hunting in remote areas of Afghanistan for al-Qaida and Taliban holdouts. However, most of the 7,000-strong U.S. force in Afghanistan is headquartered at Bagram air base north of Kabul and an a smaller installation outside of the southern city of Kandahar.\nMilitary spokesman Col. Roger King said U.S. troops from Kandahar were already in the Uruzgan area studying the feasibility of deploying troops there.