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Panetta Visits Afghanistan Amid Mounting Violence

Gen. John Allen, left, Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Kabul.Credit...Pool photo by Jim Watson/Getty Images

KABUL, Afghanistan — Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta arrived in Afghanistan on Thursday after the deadliest day for civilians this year, caused in part by a NATO airstrike the day before in which Afghan officials say 18 women and children were killed.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the strike in the strongest terms and decided the episode was serious enough to cut short his trip to China, where he was participating in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit meeting.

“NATO cannot justify any airstrike which causes harm to the lives and property of civilians,” Mr. Karzai said in a statement released by his office, adding that all the people killed in the strike, in the eastern province of Logar, were civilians.

The United Nations criticized the strike as well, blaming both the Taliban and international forces for continuing airstrikes near civilian areas, though it had not completed an investigation to report a complete toll.

A joint investigation by the Afghan government and NATO has begun, according to a NATO spokesman. Initial reporting by NATO, however, said that no civilians had been killed.

Mr. Panetta, who said that he wanted an assessment of the situation in Afghanistan from the senior allied commander, Gen. John R. Allen, used a news conference to speak out strongly about the havens in Pakistan where Taliban and other extremists take refuge between attacks on coalition and Afghan forces.

“It is an increasing concern that the safe havens exist and that the Haqqanis are using it to attack our forces,” Mr. Panetta said as he stood next to the Afghan defense minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak. He was referring to the Haqqani network, Islamic militants operating from Pakistan.

“We are reaching the limits of our patience here, and for that reason it is extremely important that Pakistan take action to prevent this kind of safe haven,” he said.

Mr. Panetta said that the Haqqanis most recently had been involved in an attack on Camp Salerno in Khost Province and that it was “an intolerable situation.”

In Washington on Thursday, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, echoed Mr. Panetta’s comments from Kabul, acknowledging during a news conference that “there are friction points in our relationship with Pakistan.”

General Dempsey cited the growing influence — and recurring violence — of the Haqqani network in the cross-border area as one area of disappointment. “The Haqqani network is as big a threat to Pakistan as it is to Afghanistan and to us, but we haven’t been able to find common ground on that point,” he said.

General Dempsey added: “We just have to keep at it, because Pakistan’s an important partner.”

Mr. Panetta arrived a day after a suicide attack in Kandahar City that killed 23 Afghan civilians and a suicide bombing in Faryab in the north of the country, in addition to the NATO airstrike in Logar.

On Wednesday, he was in New Delhi, where he brushed aside concerns that drone strikes against Qaeda leaders in Pakistan violated that country’s sovereignty.

“We have made clear to the Pakistanis that the United States of America is going to defend ourselves against those who attack us,” Mr. Panetta said. “This is not just about protecting the United States. It’s also about protecting Pakistan. And we have made it very clear that we are going to continue to defend ourselves.”

On Monday, a C.I.A. drone strike in Pakistan’s tribal belt killed Al Qaeda’s deputy leader, Abu Yahya al-Libi, American officials said. Such strikes have infuriated Pakistani officials, who have demanded that they end. But the Obama administration considers them a highly effective tool in the battle against Al Qaeda.

Reporting was contributed by Taimoor Shah from Kandahar, Afghanistan; Habib Zahori and Sangar Rahimi from Kabul; employees of The New York Times from Mazar-i-Sharif and Khost; and Gardiner Harris from New Delhi.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Panetta Visits Afghanistan Amid Tension Over Deaths. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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