Facing growing public anger over the rising civilian death toll from the war in Afghanistan, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has proposed a solution — increasing Afghanistan’s supervision over U.S. and NATO military operations on its territory.

Some take it as a sign of a deepening disagreement between Karzai and his western allies over how to conduct the war in Afghanistan, but others see it as an attempt by the Afghan leader to garner popular support in an election year.

Culture and Information Minister Abdul Karim Khoram said that for years, Kabul has been urging its international allies in private to change military tactics seen as leading to high numbers of civilian casualties. But no concrete action has been taken to address those concerns, Khoram said, forcing the Afghan government to make its complaints public.

In an interview with RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan, Khoram explained the importance Kabul places on a draft proposal sent to Washington and NATO on January 10 seeking an overhaul of the way international forces operate on Afghan territory.

“Preventing civilian casualties [in the fight against insurgents] tops the Afghan agenda. We also do not want the foreigners to search the houses of our people,” Khoram said. “If this [proposed agreement] is agreed to and is implemented, it will guarantee the success of Afghanistan and the world in the war against terrorism. And if this is rejected it will push this conflict toward a stalemate. And we will all lose out.”

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in response to rising domestic pressure and perhaps with an eye toward winning popular support in an election year, has taken credit for the “draft technical agreement” sent by the Afghan Defense Ministry. The document seeks a review of the strategies and tactics employed by NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan and calls for Kabul to have increased leverage in the deployment and conduct of Western forces.