President Hamid Karzai on Friday condemned the killing of a 4-year-old boy by ISAF in southern Helmand province last week, reaffirming his demand for a quick end in foreign troops operations on Afghan homes.
Karzai met with the governor of the Helmand province Naeem Baloch and learned of the boy's death on Wednesday.
The boy apparently was hit when shots were fired by ISAF force protection security patrol, on a threat that passed by a compound, ISAF statement said. According to the statement, medical care was immiediately provided to the wounded boy but, the child died.
"We condemn the killing of this boy in the strongest terms," said Amil Faizi, Karzai's spokesman.
"We have been calling for the complete end of military operations in residential areas. This demand has not been taken seriously by foreign troops and the result is civilian casualties, including women and children," he said.
At the heart of the Kabul-Washington tensions is Karzai's refusal to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) that would allow the Pentagon to keep thousands of troops in Afghanistan after the current combat mission ends in December.
Pentagon officials wanted that the BSA sign by the end of last year so funding and a deployment schedule could be in place in time to ensure a smooth transition when Afghanistan resumes control of its own security during the phased pullout.
All US and NATO troops must be out by Dec. 31, according to the agreements governing the mission's end stages.
There are currently 42,700 US troops deployed in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led force that is due to withdraw by the end of 2014.