‘Deeply Disturbing’: Civilian Deaths in Washington’s Afghan War at 9-Year High
More civilians were killed in 2018 than in any of the previous nine years of the 18-year US war in Afghanistan, according to new data.
A greater number of non-combatants in Afghanistan were killed in 2018 than during each of the previous nine years of the ongoing US war in the nation, according to a new United Nations report released Sunday.
While many have noted that recent peace talks between representatives of the Taliban and US officials could see a pullout by the Pentagon, others are worried that after America leaves the Middle Eastern nation there may be bloodbath and civil war.
The newly-released report, from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), suggested that increased numbers of suicide bombings, alongside concurrent aerial attacks on armed tribes outside of urban centers by US forces, were the cause of the rise.
The yearly UNAMA data claimed 10,993 civilians killed or wounded in 2018, representing the highest casualty figures since the UN branch initiated its documentation in 2009.
"In total, UNAMA documented 10,993 civilian casualties (3,804 deaths and 7,189 injured), representing a five-percent increase in overall civilian casualties and an 11-percent increase in civilian deaths compared to 2017," according to the report, cited by Xinhuanet.com.
"Key factors contributing to the significant increase in civilian casualties were a spike in suicide attacks by AGEs [anti-government elements], mainly Daesh/ISKP [Islamic State Khorosan Province], as well as increased harm to civilians from aerial and search operations by pro-government forces," the UNAMA report noted.
"2018 witnessed the highest number of civilian casualties ever recorded [since the 2009 beginning of the ongoing study] from suicide attacks and aerial operations," noted the report.
As detailed by UNAMA, an estimated 63 percent of civilian casualties were the result of Islamic religious fundamentalists — Islamists — broken down into 37 percent by the Taliban, 20 percent at the hands of Daesh and another 6 percent by miscellaneous armed cabals.
https://sputniknews.com/military/201902251072703098-afghan-war-Civilian-Deaths-9-Year-High/