KABUL, Feb 17: Nato would work with the country’s defence leadership to implement a ban by President Hamid Karzai on Afghan forces using Nato air strikes in residential areas, the new Nato commander in Afghanistan, US General Joseph Dunford, said on Sunday.

Mr Karzai announced on Saturday that he would issue a decree banning Afghan security forces from requesting Nato air strikes on “Afghan homes or villages”, following the deaths of 10 civilians in the eastern province of Kunar last Wednesday.

The Nato air strike had been requested by Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, the president said. In his first meeting with reporters since assuming command of Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) a week ago, Gen Dunford said he would work out the details of how to implement Mr Karzai’s order.

“We got the broad guidance from the president, and we will work out the details in the coming days,” he said at the heavily guarded Isaf headquarters, several hundred metres from the presidential palace.

Mr Karzai’s decree is expected to be issued soon. —Reuters