Kabul (dpa) – The US embassy in Kabul this week cut off aid and called back its staff working at the Afghan Government Media and Information Center after a center press conference that criticized foreign troops over civilian casualties, center officials said Wednesday. Ezatullah Safi, the center's deputy director, said it was told the embassy would review its aid to the center after the press conference. An Afghan fact-finding team appointed by President Hamid Karzai on Saturday blamed NATO-led troops for what it said was the unnecessary killing of dozens of civilians. The press conference the team held at the center criticized foreign forces as “brutal.” A US embassy official said it had “temporarily removed US embassy personnel” who were working at the center. “We are reviewing and reassessing our support to GMIC at this time,” spokesman Gavin Sundwall said. He said the embassy had spend about 9 million dollars since the establishment of the center in 2007. He refused to comment on the reason the staff were called back or for the review. Gary Kolb, an official with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said it had temporarily called back “less then 10 staff” from the center but the plan was to make the center self-sufficient. “It was not a response to the press conference because there has been other instances where we have been criticized,” Kolb said. Civilian causalities by foreign troops, including US soldiers, remained highly sensitive issues and a matter of tension between the Afghan president and his Western allies. Another media center official said it received a phone call Monday from the embassy criticizing its decision to let the Afghan fact-finding team hold the press conference at the center. “They told us that they were going to cut off the funding and were calling back all foreign staff,” the official said on the condition of anonymity. Safi said three Americans and five ISAF personnel had stopped coming to the center since the press conference. “We are responsible for holding press conferences for both US and Afghan officials and so do not regret the decision,” he said. The embassy had committed 3 million dollars this year for the center, Safi said but added that he could not provide details on how much was received and spent. “Definitely, it will affect our work, but we will not close the center if the US embassy cuts the money,” Safi said. Besides holding press conferences, the centre monitors media for the government and trains Afghan officials in media-related activities. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/hxa9H Tags: Afghan Media Center, Afghanistan, Censorship, US Embassy Section: Asia, Human Rights, Latest News, Media
