Karzai's Cousin Killed in Botched Raid

President Karzai's cousin has become the latest in a string of high-profile civilian casualties in Afghanistan. Yaar Mohammad Khan, 65, was shot and killed by U.S. Special Forces during a night raid in southern Afghanistan targeting Khan's son. It's not clear why Khan was shot, and his son was later released. Agha Lalai Dastagiri, deputy chairman of the Kandahar provincial council, suggested NATO may have been sucked in to a family feud, pointing out that Khan had a long-running dispute with another relative, and said that the relative might have given NATO troops a faulty tip. President Karzai has condemned night raids in the past, and did so again after his cousin's death. The shooting comes a little more than a week after NATO pilots accidentally killed nine boys collecting firewood, an event Karzai condemned and Gen. David Petraeus apologized for. A report released yesterday shows that 75 percent of civilian casualties last year in Afghanistan were caused by the Taliban, but recent high-profile civilian deaths have heightened tensions between the Afghan government and NATO troops.