Afghan civilians are for the first time being killed in greater numbers by US and pro-government forces than by the Taliban and other insurgent groups, a UN report released Wednesday revealed.
\nThe bloody milestone comes as the US steps up its air campaign in Afghanistan while pushing for a peace deal with the Taliban, who now control or influence more parts of the country than at any time since they were ousted in 2001.
\nDuring the first three months of 2019, international and pro-government forces were responsible for the deaths of 305 civilians, whereas insurgent groups killed 227 people, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a quarterly report.
\nMost of the deaths resulted from air strikes or from search operations on the ground, primarily conducted by US-backed Afghan forces, some of which UNAMA said \u201cappear to act with impunity\u201d.
\n\u201cUNAMA urges both the Afghan national security forces and international military forces to conduct investigations into allegations of civilian casualties, to publish the results of their findings, and to provide compensation to victims as appropriate,\u201d the report states.
\nUNAMA started compiling civilian casualty data in 2009 amid deteriorating security conditions in Afghanistan.
\nIt is the first tally since records began that shows pro-government forces have killed more civilians than insurgents have.
\nIn 2017, the US military started quickening its operational tempo after President Donald Trump loosened restrictions and made it easier for American forces to bomb Taliban positions.
\nWhile other nations may contribute logistical or technical support, it is US aircraft that conduct most strikes. Afghanistan\u2019s fledgeling air force is also flying more sorties.
\nThe US has sent huge B-52 bombers on runs over the country and benefited from an increase in aerial hardware as operations against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria tapered off.
\nUNAMA\u2019s report did however find that overall, civilian casualties dropped 23 percent as compared to the first three months of 2018.
\nIn all, UNAMA documented 1,773 casualties last quarter: 581 deaths and 1,192 injured \u2014 the lowest first quarter toll since 2013.
\nThe drop was driven by a decrease in the use of suicide bomb attacks, but UNAMA did not know if this trend came as a result of a harsh winter or if the Taliban were trying to kill fewer civilians during peace talks.
\nStill, UNAMA chief Tadamichi Yamamoto, who also serves as the UN secretary general\u2019s special representative for Afghanistan, said a \u201cshocking number\u201d of civilians are being killed or maimed.
\n\u201cAll parties must do more to safeguard civilians,\u201d Yamamoto said in a statement.
\nLast year was the deadliest yet for Afghan civilians, with 3,804 killed, according to UNAMA.
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Afghan civilians are for the first time being killed in greater numbers by US and pro-government forces than by the Taliban and other insurgent groups, a UN report released Wednesday revealed. The bloody milestone comes as the US steps up its air campaign in Afghanistan while pushing for a peace deal with the Taliban, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":17222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}