Afghan civilian deaths soar to record high: UN

kabul — Civilian casualties in Afghanistan soared to a record high in the first half of 2016, the UN said on Monday, with children in particular paying a heavy price for growing insecurity as the conflict escalates.

The UN report, which comes days after the deadliest attack in Kabul since the Taleban were ousted from power in 2001, cited increasing ground combat around heavily populated areas as the leading cause of casualties.

Between January and June, 1,601 civilians were killed and 3,565 were wounded — a four per cent increase in casualties compared to the same period last year, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said.

The casualties have reached their highest level since the UN began issuing its authoritative reports in 2009.

“Every single casualty documented in this report every civilian casualty represents a failure of commitment and should be a call to action for parties to the conflict to take meaningful steps to reduce suffering,” UNAMA chief Tadamichi

Platitudes not backed by meaningful action ring hollow over time.”

Tadamichi Yamamoto, UNAMA chief

Yamamoto said. “Platitudes not backed by meaningful action ring hollow over time.”

The casualties include 1,509 children — roughly one-third of the total — a figure the UN described as “alarming and shameful”. It was the highest toll ever recorded by the UN over a sixmonth period.

The statistics are a grim indicator of growing insecurity in Afghanistan as the Taleban step up their nationwide insurgency and the Daesh group seeks to expand their foothold in the east of the country.

The UN report said insurgent groups including the Taleban were responsible for the majority — 60 per cent — of civilian casualties.

But it also reported a 47 per cent increase in the number of casualties caused by pro-government forces, compared to the same pe- Record high in first half of 2016 since counting began 5,000 total casualties riod last year. “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 family that lost a breadwinner, forcing the children to leave school and struggle to make ends meet; the driver who lost his limbs, depriving him of his livelihood; the man who went to the bazaar to shop for his children only to return home to find them dead.” The report 3,208 3,565 comes after the deadliest attack for 15 years in Kabul on Saturday killed 80 people and left hundreds maimed, an assault claimed by Daesh.

The twin bombings tore through crowds of Hazaras as they gathered to demand that a multi-million-dollar power line pass through their electricity-starved province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan.

Those figures are not included in the UN report. —