Injured Civilian (file photo)
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
February 24, 2019
The United Nations says a record number of Afghan civilians were killed in 2018, blaming the increase on unprecedented suicide bombings by militant groups and air strikes carried out by U.S.-led forces.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the conflict in Afghanistan killed 3,804 civilians and wounded another 7,189, an 11 percent increase from 2017, in its annual report released on February 24.
The civilian death toll is the highest number since UNAMA began tallying figures in 2009.
The UNAMA report said 2018 “witnessed the highest number of civilian casualties ever recorded from suicide attacks and aerial operations.”
According to the report, 63 percent of all civilian casualties were caused by militants — with the Taliban being blamed for 37 percent of the dead and wounded, the Islamic State (IS) militant group for 20 percent, and other antigovernment groups for 6 percent.
The Afghan government and its U.S. and NATO allies were blamed for 24 percent of the dead and wounded civilians, many of them killed in increased air strikes carried out mostly by international forces.
“For the first time since 2009, UNAMA recorded more than 1,000 civilian casualties from aerial operations,” the report said.
The U.S. military said it carried out 6,823 sorties last year in which munitions were fired, the highest number in the last six years.
‘Deeply Disturbing’
UNAMA said women and children comprised almost two-thirds of all civilian casualties from aerial operations.
The uptick in violence in 2018 also coincided with a significant increase in the number of deaths caused by the “deliberate targeting of civilians,” according to the report, mostly stemming from suicide attacks by the Taliban or the IS group.
At least 65 suicide attacks were recorded in 2018, the majority hitting the capital, Kabul.
The report said the Taliban was responsible for 1,751 civilian casualties in 2018, compared to 916 in 2017, while the IS group killed or wounded 2,181 civilians last year — the highest number ever recorded for the militant groups.
The report’s release comes a day before U.S. and Taliban negotiators hold another round of peace talks in Qatar aimed at ending the 17-year conflict.
U.S. peace enjoy Zalmay Khalilzad has held a series of direct talks with Taliban negotiators across the Middle East in recent months, raising the prospect of peace.
Tadamichi Yamamoto, the head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, called the spiraling number of civilian casualties “deeply disturbing and wholly unacceptable.”
“It is time to put an end to this human misery and tragedy,” said Yamamoto. “The best way to halt the killings and maiming of civilians is to stop the fighting.”
Since the UN began documenting civilian casualties 10 years ago, more than 32,000 civilians have been killed and another 60,000 wounded in Afghanistan.
Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
Related
*YOU
ALBINO RATS :
………………………….
•••••••••••••••••••••••••
*************************
.
*LEAVE
THE PEOPLE
OF
AFGHANISTAN
ALONE !
======•••••••••
===•••••••••
==••••••
*THE RATE IS THE
EQUIVALENT
OF
OVER ONE MILLION
US
YOUNG
CITIZENS- US
population is roughly
ten times that
of
Afghanistan
*AND; JUST
WITHIN
THE
LAST THREE YEARS !
•••
*UNBELIEVABLE !
===
==
=
DURING THAT
TIMEFRAME;
OVER
ONE
HUNDRED THOUSANDS
OF
YOUNG PEOPLE
OF
AFGHANISTAN
HAVE HAD
BEEN
COWARDLY MASSACRED !
•••
BROTHERS AND SISTERS :
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
***
**
*
The
*ALBINO *RATS
are committing
heinous crimes
in
our
*country- they
think
that they
could
get away
with it all !
*RAISE
YOUR HONORABLE
VOICE- AND
*STOP *THEM !
•••
The same packs of
ugly
rats; have had
and/or had been committing
exactly
similar crimes
in
Algeria and many other
Islamic countries
across- it is going
to
rapidly and exponentially
go up
in
Afghanistan, if
not
properly contained and fully stoped !
========
=====
==
*STOP
*THE GENOCIDES !
•••
*AND
=====
IT IS ALL HAPPENING
RIGHT
IN
FRONT
OF
YOUR OWN EYES !
*GET OUT !
***************
*Those coward
foreign
perpetrators and schemers
make
tens
of
millions of dollars off
the
dead bodies
of
innocent folks- they keep scheming
for
big
rewards- otherwise, they are
so ugly, (internally and externally), that their wives,
normally, would not be able to stand them all.
=======
====
===
They all have severe mental issues- that is how they are channelling them all
on
vulnerable folks..
*JUST;
———
GET LOST !
•••
*It stands
at
about
rste
of
100 persons
killed every day- God damn
you;
.
GET OUT
OF
AFGHANISTAN !
•••
*It stands
at
about
rate
of
at least
100 persons
killed
every day- God damn
you;
.
GET OUT
OF
AFGHANISTAN !
•••
*Ironically; the “rats” have been
able
to
drastically minimize
their
own
casualty rate.
And, all the coward
surrounding countries
are
watching it
all- in fact, they are,
(directly and/or indirectly), betting
to
make money off this
grotesque
international
business affair..
Anglo/US war criminals
are
symbiotically
sponsoring
“drug and arms”
dealers and manufacturers.
Megalomaniacs
and
on-dutyty war criminals
are
symbiotically
sponsoring
drug dealers and arms manufacturers.
Incidentally; it not
just
the
“albino rats” who are actively
scheming it all
up- they have also their devoted stooges, mercenaries and all all other packs
of
Vultures; camp-followers and accomplices
who are heavily involved
in this
extreme criminal act
of
geopolitical plot.
*These, international
packs
of
criminals criminals,
are deaf, blind, neurotic and defective.
*They are
being
used and abused
by
international
syndicates”
of
MEGALOMANIACS.- all
secret and empowered
to
the max.
*These free loaders,
are the most coward creatures
on
the face of
the earth- and, they are
exclusively
functional
on
tax-pepayers’ expenses; that
is
the truth !
===
==
=
Check
it all out !
•••