Thursday 18 November 2010

Civilian Casualties Soaring In Afghanistan

Mourners at an Afghan funeral look at American bombers passing overhead

A report from a panel of aid agencies, including some of Britain's most prominent charities, said insurgent attacks had risen by more than 50 per cent and further increases were likely.
However, a Nato report for heads of government attending today's alliance summit in Lisbon concluded that troops were "regaining the initiative" against the Taliban.
The agency report, called "Nowhere to Turn", said this year was the most deadly for Afghan civilians since the Taliban regime fell nine years ago and the coalition's rush for "quick fix" strategies threatened to exacerbate insecurity.
It was written in consultation with aid workers across the country and claimed that the government "can barely access one-third of the country".
Ashley Jackson of Oxfam, the author, said: "Nato forces have tried to present an upbeat picture of what is going on, but I don't think the people of Afghanistan see that. Certainly the figures don't show that."
The violence was having a "huge impact" on the aid work of the 29 agencies who signed the report, she said.
Insurgent attacks in July to September were up 59 per cent on last year.
Afghans were caught in intense violence between rebels and the coalition, causing civilian deaths in the first six months of 2010 to rise a fifth on last year, according to United Nations figures. Most were killed by insurgents.
"More civilians are being killed and injured than ever before and Afghanistan is more insecure than at any time in the past nine years," said Farhana Faruqi-Stocker of Afghanaid. "We are concerned that unless urgent steps are taken now, the violence will continue to escalate and civilian suffering will only increase."
The report said the speed at which Nato was building the police and army left the system open to abuses such as theft, extortion and "indiscriminate" killing.
"Afghan soldiers and police are poorly trained and command systems are weak," it said.
Daily Telegraph

2 comments:

  1. NATO officials continue to hope that Afghans will blame the Taliban for civilian deaths, even though many studies have shown this not to be the case. NATO and Taliban receive equal blame for Taliban-caused deaths, so even if NATO itself reduces the casualties it directly causes, it retains the indirect blame for originally destabilizing the country. This isn't likely to change unless NATO can dramatically improve their lives, which remains a pipe-dream.

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  2. A pipe dream it is, James. I don't even know if NATO (apart from the hardcore boneheads) believe in their own 'mission'.

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