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Afghan civilian deaths soar to highest level
KABULThe number of Afghan civilians who died in war-related violence last year soared to the highest annual level since the conflict began in 2001, the U.N. said Wednesday, while deaths attributed to allied forces dropped nearly 30 percent a key U.S. goal for winning over the Afghan people.
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan said 2,412 civilians were killed in 2009 a 14 percent increase over the 2,118 who died in 2008. Another 3,566 civilians were wounded.
Nearly 70 percent of the killings, or 1,630, were blamed on insurgents while 25 percent, or 596, were attributed to pro-government forces, the report said. The remaining 135 deaths could not be attributed to either side but were civilians caught in the crossfire or killed by unexploded ordnance.
The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has ordered troops to use airstrikes judiciously and take other measures to reduce civilian casualties following widespread public outrage over civilian deaths.
The number of civilians killed by pro-government forces, including U.S. airstrikes, decreased by 28 percent over the previous year, the report found. Airstrikes still killed 359 civilians, or 60 percent of the deaths attributed to pro-government forces and 15 percent of civilian deaths overall.
President Hamid Karzais office said the best way to prevent the killing of civilians was to let Afghan forces take the lead in operations.
We cannot guarantee what number the Taliban kill, presidential spokesman Waheed Omar said. We can at least bring down the number of casualties that we are causing in this war, and the number of casualties that happen unintentionally by the international forces during operations.
A survey released this week found that 42 percent of the 1,534 Afghan respondents now blame the violence on the Taliban up from 27 percent a year ago. Seventeen percent blame the U.S., NATO or the Afghan security forces, down from 36 percent a year ago. But 66 percent said airstrikes by the U.S. and international forces were unacceptable because they endangered too many innocent civilians, even though they might help defeat militants.
The survey, commissioned by ABC News, the BBC and ARD German TV, was conducted from Dec. 11 to Dec. 23 by the Afghan Center for Socio-Economic and Opinion Research in Kabul, a subsidiary of D3 Systems Inc. in Vienna, Va. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The thinking in the past up until this past year was that we need to go ahead and deal with the insurgency and we will take a calculated risk in terms of collateral damage, said Kamran Bokhari, an analyst with the U.S.-based global intelligence firm Stratfor. That has somewhat shifted where more caution is being exercised.
But he predicted the escalation of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan would result in even more casualties. Civilians are going to be caught in the middle, he said.Agencies
The Daily Mail - Daily News from Pakistan - Newspaper from Pakistan
KABULThe number of Afghan civilians who died in war-related violence last year soared to the highest annual level since the conflict began in 2001, the U.N. said Wednesday, while deaths attributed to allied forces dropped nearly 30 percent a key U.S. goal for winning over the Afghan people.
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan said 2,412 civilians were killed in 2009 a 14 percent increase over the 2,118 who died in 2008. Another 3,566 civilians were wounded.
Nearly 70 percent of the killings, or 1,630, were blamed on insurgents while 25 percent, or 596, were attributed to pro-government forces, the report said. The remaining 135 deaths could not be attributed to either side but were civilians caught in the crossfire or killed by unexploded ordnance.
The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has ordered troops to use airstrikes judiciously and take other measures to reduce civilian casualties following widespread public outrage over civilian deaths.
The number of civilians killed by pro-government forces, including U.S. airstrikes, decreased by 28 percent over the previous year, the report found. Airstrikes still killed 359 civilians, or 60 percent of the deaths attributed to pro-government forces and 15 percent of civilian deaths overall.
President Hamid Karzais office said the best way to prevent the killing of civilians was to let Afghan forces take the lead in operations.
We cannot guarantee what number the Taliban kill, presidential spokesman Waheed Omar said. We can at least bring down the number of casualties that we are causing in this war, and the number of casualties that happen unintentionally by the international forces during operations.
A survey released this week found that 42 percent of the 1,534 Afghan respondents now blame the violence on the Taliban up from 27 percent a year ago. Seventeen percent blame the U.S., NATO or the Afghan security forces, down from 36 percent a year ago. But 66 percent said airstrikes by the U.S. and international forces were unacceptable because they endangered too many innocent civilians, even though they might help defeat militants.
The survey, commissioned by ABC News, the BBC and ARD German TV, was conducted from Dec. 11 to Dec. 23 by the Afghan Center for Socio-Economic and Opinion Research in Kabul, a subsidiary of D3 Systems Inc. in Vienna, Va. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The thinking in the past up until this past year was that we need to go ahead and deal with the insurgency and we will take a calculated risk in terms of collateral damage, said Kamran Bokhari, an analyst with the U.S.-based global intelligence firm Stratfor. That has somewhat shifted where more caution is being exercised.
But he predicted the escalation of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan would result in even more casualties. Civilians are going to be caught in the middle, he said.Agencies
The Daily Mail - Daily News from Pakistan - Newspaper from Pakistan
