More civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year than in any of the previous nine years of the increasingly bloody conflict, according to a UN report released yesterday, which blamed the spike in deaths on increased suicide bombings by the Islamic State group and stepped up aerial attacks by coalition forces.
In its annual report, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that 10,993 civilians were killed or wounded last year, the highest number since the international organization began tallying figures in 2009.
The report comes amid efforts to find a peaceful end to the 17-year war, which have accelerated since the appointment in September of US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, who is to begin another round of talks with the Taliban today in the Gulf state of Qatar, where they maintain a political office.
UN Special Representative for Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamamoto called the spiraling number of civilian casualties “deeply disturbing and wholly unacceptable.”
Tens of thousands of Afghan civilians live as refugees in their own country after fleeing fighting in their home provinces. Tens of thousands more have fled their homeland, seeking safety in neighboring countries and in Europe.
According to the report, 63 percent of all civilian casualties were caused by insurgents, with the breakdown blaming the Taliban for 37 percent of the dead and wounded, the Islamic State group for 20 percent, and a collection of other anti-government groups for the remaining 6 percent.
The Afghan government and its US and NATO allies were blamed for 24 percent of the dead and wounded civilians caught in the crossfire, many of them killed in aerial attacks, most of which are carried out by the US and NATO.
The report said civilian casualties at the hands of Afghan and international forces were up significantly last year compared with 2017.
“For the first time since 2009 when it began systematically documenting civilian casualty figures, UNAMA recorded more than 1,000 civilian casualties from aerial operations,” the report said.
The US military says it carried out 6,823 sorties last year in which munitions were fired — the highest number in the past six years.
Last year “witnessed the highest number of civilian casualties ever recorded from suicide attacks and aerial operations,” according to the report, which said 3,804 people were killed and 7,189 were wounded.
Since the UN began documenting civilian casualties 10 years ago, more than 32,000 civilians have been killed and another 60,000 wounded.
“It is time to put an end to this human misery and tragedy,” Yamamoto said. “The best way to halt the killings and maiming of civilians is to stop the fighting. That is why there is all the more need now to use all our efforts to bring about peace.”
The US and the Taliban have openly embraced a strategy of talking while fighting, with the Taliban carrying out near-daily attacks on Afghanistan’s beleaguered security forces.
Afghan Forces are battling the Taliban throughout the country with support from their US-led coalition allies. The coalition and Afghanistan’s security forces have also been pounding Islamic State positions, particularly in eastern Afghanistan, where the affiliate is based.
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