Hamid Karzai wants immediate halt to NATO night raids

Afghan President Hamid Karzai today demanded an immediate halt to NATO-led night raids after the military insisted the operations will continue despite the recent death of a pregnant woman.

Karzai has led public criticism of the controversial raids, saying they endanger lives and harass local communities, and repeatedly called on US-led international forces to stop entering Afghan homes.

The latest spat comes after the pregnant wife of an anti-drugs official was killed during a raid in the eastern Paktia province in the early hours of Saturday when NATO-led forces returned gunfire coming from a compound.

NATO has defended the operations as the safest way of targeting insurgent leaders, insisting they will continue but with the increasing involvement of Afghan special forces.

"The president of Afghanistan wants an immediate halt to the night raids and house searches of Afghans," presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said.

"He doesn't want any foreigner to go to the homes of Afghans and search their homes."

A loya jirga meeting of Afghan elders last month made halting the raids a condition of a strategic partnership document being negotiated with Washington.

The agreement will govern the relationship between American troops and the Afghan government after the scheduled withdrawal of combat troops in 2014.