Karzai pledges to ban air strikes on residential areas

Government troops have relied heavily on foreign air power to give them an advantage on the battlefield.

President Karzai's declaration followed a joint Afghan-Nato operation this week that killed 10 civilians, including women and children, in Kunar province.

"I will issue a decree tomorrow that no Afghan security forces - in any circumstances - can ask for the foreigners' planes for carrying out operations on our homes and villages," the president warned the Afghan National Military Academy in Kabul.

Civilian deaths at the hands of foreign forces, particularly air strikes, have been a huge issue of the 11-year-old war.

The US-led coalition claims to have implemented measures to mitigate them, but the deaths have continued.

The UN mission in Afghanistan said that 83 civilians were killed and 46 wounded in aerial attacks by international military forces in the first half of 2012.

It said two-thirds of the casualties last year were women and children.

Mr Karzai has frequently denounced air strikes and demanded that they stop.

But his speech at the weekend was the first time he threatened to formalise his concern with a decree.

The military coalition has already conceded that it would limit air strikes to a weapon of last resort for troops, following a bombardment in June that killed 18 civilians celebrating a wedding in Logar province, which drew an apology from the US commander.