We are blogging the latest news about America's war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Email us at AfPak [at] huffingtonpost.com. Follow Nico on Twitter; follow Nicholas on Twitter. See archives of 'At War' here. Additional reporting by Faiz Lalani.
4:30 PM ET -- Afghan conflict killed nearly 350 children in 2009. A top UN official said Wednesday that 346 children were killed due to violence in Afghanistan last year. According to the UN official, 131 of these deaths were from aerial strikes, 22 from 'search-and raid by Special Forces,' and 128 from "anti-Government elements, including assassinations and suicide bombings."
Rethink Afghanistan has a new video highlighting the fact US and NATO forces were responsible for over half of these children.
10:10 AM ET -- NATO admits death of 8 boys was a mistake. From the London Times:
A night-time raid in eastern Afghanistan in which eight schoolboys from one family were killed was carried out on the basis of faulty intelligence and should never have been authorised, a Times investigation has found.
Ten children and teenagers died when troops stormed a remote mountain compound near the border with Pakistan in December
Read more of the Times' investigation.
10:00 AM ET -- Night raid restrictions. NATO issued a new directive Wednesday in an effort to limit the use of night raids on civilians in Afghanistan. The practice has been frequently cited as one of the tactics that has continually enraged Afghans and hampered the coalitions' effort to gain the trust and support of locals as well as convince them to move away from the Taliban. "We didn't understand what a cultural line it was," McChrystal said. "We are trying to change the way we do these."
8:45 AM ET -- Afghan government claims Marjah. From the AP:
The Afghan government took official control of the southern Taliban stronghold of Marjah on Thursday, installing an administrator and raising the national flag while U.S.-led troops worked to root out final pockets of militants.
The ceremony was held in a central market as U.S. Marines and Afghan troops slogged through bomb-laden fields in the north of the town. The Marines and their Afghan partners are trying to secure a 28-square mile (45-square kilometer) area believed to be the last significant pocket of Taliban insurgents in Marjah.
Militants and allied troops are still getting caught up in gunfights in some areas, NATO said.
But the number of residents returning has increased in recent days, shops have opened to sell telephones and computers alongside fresh fruits and vegetables, and officials hailed the installation of Abdul Zahir Aryan as the town's administrator as a key sign of progress.