Civilian deaths in the escalating Afghan war soared by 24 percent during the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, the UN said on Friday, blaming most of the casualties on Taliban attacks launched with little regard for civilian lives.
The UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan also pointed to stepped-up military operations by the US and its allies, especially airstrikes, for the steady increase in Afghan civilian casualties over the past two years.
However, the report also said the number of civilians killed by the Taliban and other “anti-government forces” during the first half of the year was double those attributed to the US-led coalition and Afghan government forces. The UN termed that a “significant shift” from 2007, when the coalition was responsible for 41 percent of civilian deaths.
PHOTO: AP
Both the US and some elements of the Taliban appear sensitive to the issue of civilian casualties, fearing a loss of support among the embattled Afghan population.
This month, the new commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, issued orders to curb the use of airstrikes to hold down civilian casualties.
A new Taliban “code of conduct,” attributed to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, instructs fighters to make “the utmost effort” to avoid killing civilians and to curb the use of suicide attacks. NATO officials dismissed the code as propaganda.
Despite the Taliban code, the UN report said insurgent suicide attacks and roadside bombings claimed more civilian lives “than any other tactic used by the parties to the conflict” and were launched “in violation of the relevant principles of international law.”
“Far from taking action to minimize the impact of their activities on civilians, sectors of the armed opposition appear to deliberately favor the use of indiscriminate tactics, such as the use of IEDs [improvised explosive devices],” the report said.
The UN said that at least 1,013 civilians were killed in the first six months of this year compared with 818 for the same period last year — an increase of 24 percent.
Of those, 595 died as a result of Taliban attacks, many against “civilian traffic, residential compounds and marketplaces,” the report said.
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