Gates, Karzai Differ On Target Of NATO Air Strikes

Afghan President Hamid Karzai (right) at a press conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Kabul on September 2

A visit to Afghanistan by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has been overshadowed by a NATO air strike in northern Afghanistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says the strike killed 10 election campaign workers.

Speaking alongside Karzai at a Kabul press conference, Gates said the strike was aimed at insurgents from the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

The September 2 attack happened in the Rostaq district of Takhar, a province in the north near Tajikistan that has been relatively peaceful, unlike Taliban strongholds in the south and east.

Reuters