A NATO operation killed four Afghan kids tending livestock in the country's east, Afghan president Hamid Karzai said today, again lambasting the US-led forces over the ever-contentious issue of civilian casualties. "Despite repeated pledges by NATO to avoid civilian casualties, innocent lives, including children, are still being lost," Karzai said. NATO admits that casualties in the October 20 operation are possible, reports Reuters, but also released figures today that show such deaths decreased 58% since July-September of 2011. (More Afghanistan war stories.)