Britain considers troops in winter

"It's widely understood among Afghanistan refugees that there have not been so many civilian casualties,'' International Development Secretary Clare Short told a news conference.

Defense Minister Lewis Moonie added that the United States and its allies, who include Britain, "select our targets very carefully indeed ... we do not target civilian populations.''

The Taliban claimed Friday that at least 200 people had been killed two days earlier in an airstrike on a village outside the eastern city of Jalalabad. The report could not be independently verified.

Moonie said airstrikes over Afghanistan were likely to decrease in the next few days because of the Muslim festival of Miraj Un Nabi on Saturday celebrating the ascent of the prophet Mohammed into heaven.

"We are well aware of the religious significance of the next few days to the Muslim world and we will be taking that into account in our actions,'' Moonie said. "I would not be surprised if activity was much less over this weekend.''

Short announced that Britain had authorized an additional $22 million in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan. Her department has already spent most of the $36 million that Britain promised after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Britain has also given $16 million to help poorer communities in neighboring Pakistan affected by the influx of Afghan refugees.

Short said about 500 tons of international aid is now reaching Afghanistan each week, much of it taken in by Afghan commercial truckers, but the amount has to be doubled as soon as possible.

"We've got to double the scale of the current operations to get food to people and lay down large stocks for the winter,'' she said. After a long drought and the recent airborne attacks, a quarter of Afghanistan's population now relies on food aid.

Earlier Friday, Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said the approach of harsh winter weather in Afghanistan will also be a factor in deciding whether or when to deploy ground troops.