Fewer civilians dying, but more face attacks
KABUL, Afghanistan — An annual U.N. report released Thursday offered a stark assessment of the 16-year Afghan war, showing a slight decline in civilian casualties from an all-time high but a rise in complex bombing attacks that have taken a heavy toll in the capital.
The report said at least 10,453 Afghan civilians had been wounded or killed in 2017.
‘‘The chilling statistics in this report provide credible data about the war’s impact,’’ Tadamichi Yamamoto, the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative for Afghanistan, said in a statement.
The report came out a day after the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, issued an upbeat assessment of the Afghan army’s recent progress, saying that ‘‘the Taliban cannot win.’’
In contrast, the U.N. report focused on a rise in attacks deliberately targeting civilians in 2017. Those attacks, intended to undermine the authority of the U.S.-backed government, accounted for 27 percent of all civilian casualties last year.
This category includes casualties caused by suicide bombers detonating in populated areas and targeted killings, but excludes those caused by ground fighting, airstrikes and explosions aimed principally at military targets, like some roadside bombs.
Overall, the 84-page report notes, the number of civilian casualties declined 9 percent compared with the record numbers seen in 2016, driven primarily by a drop in casualties caused by ground clashes. It was the first decline in overall civilian casualties since 2012.
The report also says that despite a stepped-up pace of aerial bombardments aimed at the Taliban and Islamic State militants under President Donald Trump’s new strategy for the war, civilian casualties from airstrikes rose only 7 percent. The U.N. credited better targeting in the U.S.-led air campaign, compared with previous years.
Meanwhile, since the International Criminal Court began collecting material three months ago for a possible war crimes case involving Afghanistan, it has gotten a staggering 1.17 million statements from Afghans who say they were victims.
The statements include accounts of alleged atrocities not only by groups like the Taliban and the Islamic State, but also involving Afghan Security Forces and government-affiliated warlords, the U.S.-led coalition and foreign and domestic spy agencies, said Abdul Wadood Pedram of the Human Rights and Eradication of Violence Organization.
Based in part on the many statements, ICC judges in The Hague would then have to decide whether to seek a war crimes investigation. It's uncertain when that decision will be made.