American led troops and Afghan forces killed nine Afghan police on Sunday after airstrikes were called in to deal what was originally thought to be militant action. Both sides mistook the other for Taliban militants and exchanged fire. The United States airforce admitted it accidentally killed at least four afghan civilians on Saturday night. In the western province of Farah near the Iranian border, a convoy of foreign forces showed up in the Anar Dara district and clashed with Afghan police, killing nine of them. Local officials insisted coalition forces had not told them they were coming to the town and when the police saw them fighting broke out. As the fight proceeded during the day and into the night, coalition forces called in airstrikes and the result was death to Afghan police.
The confused guerrilla style warfare now going on in Afghanistan requires considerable more troops on the ground. The lack of such forces makes it even more imperative that coalition forces are prone to call for airstrikes when encountering opposing troops. This is but one aspect of the increasing series of mistakes which have resulted in the death of civilians and Afghan police. Each time there is such an incident, it increases civilian anger toward coalition forces as well as towards their own government.