Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Monday telephoned Afghan President and said Pakistan’s government and people stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Afghanistan following the tragic July 23rd terrorist attacks in Kabul. It was also the first major attack in the city claimed by IS, raising concerns about their strength and capabilities in Afghanistan.
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In addition to the deaths, more than 230 people were injured. Casualty numbers are not officially released, but according to figures provided by military officials, at least 5,000 troops were killed in 2014, rising to more than 6,000 past year.
The U.N. report does not include this weekend’s attack.
Of the causalities in the first half of 2016, 1,509 were children.
“The testimony of victims and their families brings into agonising focus the tragedy of. this protracted conflict since 2009”, said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The report comes just days after one of the deadliest attacks in Kabul, which killed at least 80 people and injured more than 230 others, majority civilians.
Nearly 40 percent of civilian casualties this year were caused by “ground engagement”. Also, more than 80 percent of the deaths from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were of children in 2016.
“Anti-government elements” are responsible for 60% of casualties, which means primarily rival militant groups the Taliban and IS. The rest were attributed to both or unattributed.
The report’s authors said the toll was “alarming and shameful”, and that history would judge leaders on all sides on their response.
The conflict is increasingly beginning to hurt children with almost one out of three casualties was that of a child – an 18 percent increase from the same period previous year.
Casualties caused by roadside bombs decreased dramatically, by 21 percent, a drop the United Nations attributed to the evolving nature of the conflict, as well as better bomb-detection by the government.
The casualties have reached their highest level since the United Nations began issuing its authoritative reports in 2009.
The report also reiterated concerns about the United States’ investigation into its bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital past year.
President Barack Obama, who once promised to pull out all US combat troops from Afghanistan within 16 months of taking office, last October said he would slow the withdrawal from the country, leaving about 8,400 military personnel at the end of this year.
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The report also notes the results of an investigation into the bombing of a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in October previous year, stressing that there remains a need for “a fully independent, impartial, transparent and effective investigation” with a view to assessing possible criminal liability.
