"The goal is not for the United States or the coalition or ISAF or anyone else to provide security in that country," Mr. Rumsfeld said, referring to the international security force in Kabul.
The International Security Assistance Force, the military coalition known as ISAF, released a statement Friday night denouncing the attacks on civilians in Kandahar, which took place in the Aino Mina development, a relatively peaceful area where families often gather for picnics.
This graph shows the monthly tally of civilian casualties in Afghanistan caused by insurgents and coalition military forces (ISAF).
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition of international forces said it was still in the process of reviewing the circumstances of Saturday's helicopter crash.
He said that ISAF coalition partners should really step up to plate and offer more trainers, particularly the partners who are not sending combat troops.
"Afghan, ISAF and coalition forces have successfully cleared the Panjwai area, forcing insurgent forces to abandon their positions," the NATO commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David Richards, said in a statement released by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
To the frustration of the U.S.-led ISAF military coalition, many of the released insurgent leaders quickly resume fighting.
"It is unfortunate that some people would use allegations of civilian casualties for political purposes," a U.S. official with the NATO-led coalithen, the International Security and Assistance Force, or ISAF, said in an interview Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity while discussing sensitive political matters.
In a statement issued by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the multinational coalition McChrystal leads, he said use of the rocket system was being suspended pending a review of the incident.
"We have had experiences that civilian casualties were underreported and ISAF," the NATO-led coalition, "was not very quick to report correct numbers, but we also have seen instances in which communities are being threatened by the Taliban so they exaggerate the numbers and sometimes they have false stories.
