Meanwhile, over in Afghanistan, Karzai is pissed.

“Innocent people are becoming victims of reckless operations” because the troops had ignored Afghan advice for years, Mr Karzai told reporters.

He was speaking after a week in which up to 90 Afghan civilians were killed.

“You don’t fight a terrorist by firing a field gun 37 kilometres (24 miles) away into a target. That’s definitely, surely bound to cause civilian casualties,” he said.

More civilians have been killed this year as a result of foreign military action than have been killed by insurgents, correspondents say.

The south of the country has seen the worst violence since the Taleban were ousted from power in 2001 by US-led troops.