KABUL—Special Operations night raids are "very important" for the U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban, the coalition's day-to-day commander said in an interview a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded an end to such practices.

"Special Operations Forces allow us to put constant pressure across the entire insurgent network that we're going after," U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, who heads the coalition's Joint Command that is running the war-fighting effort, told The Wall Street Journal. The night raids,...