Civilian casualties in Afghanistan soared by 24 percent in the first half of the year, according to UN figures released yesterday, revealing worsening nationwide violence as US-led troops leave after more than a decade fighting the Taliban.
Ground combat is now causing more deaths and injuries than improvised explosive devices in a worrying sign of spreading conflict, the UN report said, with women and children increasingly caught in the crossfire.
“The nature of the conflict in Afghanistan is changing in 2014 with an escalation of ground engagements in civilian-populated areas,” UN mission chief in Afghanistan Jan Kubis said.
“The impact on civilians, including the most vulnerable Afghans, is proving to be devastating,” Kubis said.
In the first six months of this year, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documented 4,853 civilian casualties, up 24 percent over the same period last year.
The toll included 1,564 deaths and 3,289 injuries, with ground engagements causing two out of every five civilian casualties this year.
The grim figures underline the fragile security situation Afghanistan faces as it wrestles with political turmoil over its disputed presidential election.
One candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, has refused to accept the result and fears are growing of ethnic tension and clashes between rival supporters.
Recent weeks have seen fierce fighting in the southern province of Helmand, with the Afghan army and police counterattacking after an offensive by 800 Taliban fighters in an area from which US troops withdrew only in May.
With NATO troops pulling out, the coming months are expected to be a test of the fledgling Afghan government forces, trained by the US-led military coalition since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.
“The fight is increasingly taking place in communities, public places and near the homes of ordinary Afghans, with death and injury to women and children in a continued disturbing upward spiral,” said Georgette Gagnon, director of human rights for the UN mission.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of