KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Civilian injuries in Afghanistan’s long war with the Taliban rose past year, with women and children again bearing the brunt of the violence, the United Nations said in a report on Sunday.
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Women and children were especially hard hit, as casualties among women spiked 37 percent while deaths and injuries increased 14 percent among children.
“The harm done to civilians is totally unacceptable”, wrote Nicholas Haysom, the UN’s special representative on Afghanistan, in the report.
“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.
A USA airstrike in October 2015 on a Doctors Without Borders hospital, which left 42 staff, patients and family members dead, and injured another 43, has been the main factor for a nine-percent increase in civilian casualties caused by foreign forces.
It attributed 62 percent of all civilian casualties to anti-government elements, which includes the Taliban who have been fighting to overthrow the Kabul government for 15 years.
There was also a 28 percent spike in the casualties from pro-government security forces, as compared to 2014.
The commander of USA and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John F. Campbell, said the insurgents had used stolen Humvees packed with explosives to launch the attack, which resulted in “casualties on both sides”.
Afghanistan is gripped by insecurity over 14 years after the United States and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror.
The mission has been recording civilian deaths and injuries in the Afghan conflict since 2009.
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He said that unattributed civilian casualties – which UNAMA puts at 17 percent – should mostly be blamed on the Taliban.
