It added: "ISAF deeply regrets any civilian casualties caused by this airstrike yesterday.
"International Security Assistance Forces [ISAF] supported the Afghan unit in contact by engaging the insurgent forces with helicopter-delivered direct fire," he said, adding that ISAF was investigating reports of civilian casualties.
Allen would remain commander of Isaf, the international security assistance force in Afghanistan, Panetta said, adding, he wanted the Senate to swiftly confirm assistant Marine Corps commandant Joseph Dunford, as Allen's successor.
Not only do they hope foreign forces may inflict further damage on the insurgency before then, but they also need the time to train an Afghan army that can outlast both their presence and the Taliban.The shooting adds fresh strain to ISAF's relations with Mr Karzai and his government, on whose behalf, it is sometimes hard to remember, it is fighting.
"I find it really amazing that actually ISAF don't seem to know where all of their firing ranges were," said Hartley, adding that getting data as been a huge challenge.
ISAF has long been challenged to make what is inherently a participatory sport a spectator sport, said the federation's secretary, Jerome Pels, adding that the boats used are just as important to broadening appeal as how the sport is covered.
"The figures reported in Isaf press releases are not intended to provide a complete historical documentation of every battlefield event that occurs in theatre," he said, adding that more comprehensive figures were used in formal reports to the US Congress, Nato or the UN.
"Families, relatives, friends, village and tribal elders will all know that ISAF does not pay for the work," the official added.
Isaf troops returned fire, killing the Afghan soldier, he added.
Isaf and Afghan National Security Forces were at the scene, it added.
