According to the annual midyear report by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), 1,601 Afghans have been killed and 3,655 wounded so far this year.
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Among the casualties this year, according to the report, were 1,509 children – 388 dead and 1,121 injured – and more than 500 women – 130 killed and 377 injured. At least 80 people were killed and 231 wounded Saturday in a suicide attack on a peaceful demonstration of the Afghan minority Shiite Hazara community.
Kabul remains the epicenter of civilian casualties this year with about 62 percent of the wounded and killed from suicide and complex attacks taking place in the capital, including the Taliban-claimed complex attack on 19 April targeting the VIP Protection Directorate of the Office of the President that resulted in 393 civilian casualties alone. “History and the long memory of the Afghan people will judge leaders of all parties to this conflict not by their well-meaning words, but by their conduct”.
At least 120 members of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group have been killed in an Afghan army offensive in the northern province of Nangarhar.
The UN report, which comes days after the deadliest attack in Kabul since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001, cited increasing ground combat around heavily populated areas as the leading cause of casualties.
Terming terrorism a common enemy for the two countries, the Prime Minister said Pakistan remained committed to deepen its cooperation with Afghanistan in fighting terrorism.
Ground engagements accounted for 38 percent of casualties, followed by complex and suicide attacks at 20 percent, United Nations investigators found.
A government spokesman said Afghan forces had killed Saad Emarati, whom he identified as a key Islamic State commander in the region.
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.
Afghan military affairs analyst Jawed Kohistani said the comparatively subdued levels of Taliban activity was due to internal leadership squabbles following the killing of leader Mullah Akhtar Masood in a USA drone strike in May. “Simultaneously, Pakistan tolerates another group which attempts to undermine the government and bring horror, death and destruction to Afghanistan”, Ghani told Geo News.
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United Nations officials called for an immediate halt to the use of air strikes in populated areas and urged Afghan air crews to use “greater restraint”. “There must be an end to the prevailing impunity enjoyed by those responsible for civilian casualties – no matter who they are”.
