UN documents civilian casualties during Afghan election

A UNITED Nations report released yesterday found that 56 civilians were killed and 379 others wounded in attacks during Afghanistan’s recent parliamentary election. Fifty-two civilians were killed and 339 others were wounded in election day violence, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan report said. The rest were killed or wounded in the days that followed when delayed polling took place in some provinces. Election day for Afghanistan’s first parliamentary elections since 2010 was Oct. 20 and took place against a backdrop of neardaily attacks by Taliban insurgents, who have seized nearly half the country and have repeatedly refused offers to negotiate with the Afghanistan government. The U.S.backed government is rife with corruption and many Afghans have said they do not expect the elections to be fair. Yet millions of Afghans have defied Taliban threats and waited, often for hours, to cast their votes. The numbers reveal that more civilians were harmed in this year’s election violence than in the four previous Afghanistan national elections, according to the report. Voting in some provinces was extended by a day to Oct. 21. Elections were delayed for a week in southern Kandahar province after an attack by an elite Afghan guard killed two top government officials, including a powerful provincial police chief. Eastern Ghazni province was the only one of 34 Afghan provinces where the election could not take place for security gets better. Voting there has been postponed for a year. Preliminary results from the election will not be released before mid-November and final results will not be out until December.