Civilian Deaths And Injuries In Afghanistan Have Hit Record High

While they officially have a “train, advice, assist” mandate, the US forces regularly conduct air strikes to back up Afghan forces, and are empowered for “force protection”, which can see them engage in self-defensive combat.

A woman reacts as she searches for her relatives at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan February 1, 2016.

The United Nations on Sunday said the number of civilians killed or injured in Afghanistan conflict in 2015 is the highest since 2009 when the organisation started recording civilian casualties in the region, reported PTI.

More than 3,500 civilians-a quarter of whom were children-lost their lives as a result of conflicts in Afghanistan past year and another 7,500 others were injured, according to a United Nations report released on Sunday.

Increasingly desperate fighting between Western-backed government forces and insurgent groups meant more noncombatants are being caught in the crossfire, investigators wrote, pointing to two developments in particular which pushed casualties up.

“This report records yet another rise in the number of civilians hurt or killed”, Nicholas Haysom, UN’s special representative for Afghanistan, said in the report. The (very thin) silver lining of the report is that there were four percent fewer deaths while the number of civilian injuries rose nine percent.

As in previous years, militant groups such as the Taliban were found responsible for the majority of casualties, with the report attributing 62 percent of the toll to insurgent factions. Ground engagements caused the most fatalities among civilians, followed by targeted and deliberate killings.

First, the heavy fighting in the northern city of Kunduz, which was taken over by the Taliban in September and later retaken by government forces.

In 2015, UNAMA documented a 37 per cent increase in women casualties and a 14 per cent increase in child casualties.

“In most parts of Afghanistan in 2015, civilian casualties decreased”, Danielle Bell, director of the United Nations human rights program in Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul. Those figures represent a four percent increase in total casualties from 2014.

Overall 103 civilians were killed and 67 wounded by foreign forces a year ago, the report found.

“The report references commitments made by all parties to the conflict to protect civilians, however, the figures documented in 2015 reflect a disconnect between commitments made and the harsh reality on the ground”, Bell said. “(the)UNAMA began its systematic documentation of civilian casualties in 2009”, according to the report.