Respect That

Our villages are not where the terrorists are. And that's what we keep telling the US administration, that the war on terrorism is not in the Afghan villages, not in the Afghan homes. Respect that. Civilian casualties are undermining support in the Afghan people for the war on terrorism and for the relations with America. How can you expect a people who keep losing their children to remain friendly?

-- Afghan President Hamid Karzai, on Meet the Press, 10 May 2009