The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, London

NATO should not be able to use Russian routes to transit supplies and equipment to Afghanistan because Russia has suspended military co-operation with the Western alliance, the country's ambassador to Kabul argued in an interview published Tuesday.

Speaking to The Times from the Afghan capital, Zamir Kabulov said increased tensions between Russia and West over the former's recent assault on Georgia could lead Moscow to review other such agreements.

Asked by the newspaper if Russia's suspension of military co-operation with NATO invalidated an April agreement on the transit of supplies to Afghanistan, Kabulov said: "Of course. Why not? If there is a suspension of military cooperation, this is military cooperation."

"No one with common sense can expect to co-operate with Russia in one part of the world while acting against it in another," he added.

He insisted, however, that Russia was not seeking to derail NATO efforts in Afghanistan, telling The Times: "It's not in Russia's interests for NATO to be defeated and leave behind all these problems."

"We'd prefer NATO to complete its job and then leave this unnatural geography.

"But at the same time, we'll be the last ones to moan about NATO's departure."

NATO leads the 53,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is tasked with spreading the influence of Kabul's weak central government across the country.

But five years after taking charge, ISAF is struggling to defeat a tenacious Taliban-led insurgency, in part commanded from across the porous mountain border with Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Amid allegations that large numbers of civilians have died in recent raids and airstrikes by foreign forces, President Hamid Karzai's government has demanded a review of the presence of U.S. and NATO troops in the country.

The government Monday ordered its foreign affairs and defense ministries to review the presence of foreign troops, regulate their presence with a status of forces agreement and negotiate a possible end to "air strikes on civilian targets, uncoordinated house searches and illegal detention of Afghan civilians."

The harshly worded statement appears to be aimed at both international forces operating in Afghanistan: the U.S.-led coalition, which conducts special forces counterterrorism operations and trains the fledgling Afghan army and police, and the U.N.-mandated NATO-led force tasked to provide security for the war-ravaged nation.

Capt. Mike Windsor, a spokesman for the NATO-led force, said they have seen media reports but have not received "any official notification so far."

"NATO's t mission is based on a UN mandate and carried upon the invitation of the Afghan government," Windsor said. There was no immediate comment from the U.S.-led coalition.

The government's decision follows a weekend clash and airstrikes in western Afghanistan, in which Afghan officials say some 90 civilians, including women and children, were killed.