[The single biggest cause of civilian casualties was suicide bombings and related attacks by insurgents, the report found. The numbers of civilian casualties caused by suicide bombings and by American and Afghan government airstrikes were each the highest recorded since the United Nations issued its first report in 2009.]
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A funeral in June for victims of a suicide
bombing in the Rodat district of Afghanistan.
Last year was the single deadliest for Afghan
civilians since the United Nations
began documenting casualties a decade ago. Credit
Ghulamullah Habibi/EPA, via
Shutterstock
|
In
a report released Sunday, the United Nations attributed almost two-thirds of
civilian casualties — 63 percent — to insurgent groups, primarily the Taliban
and the Islamic State. Afghan and American forces were responsible for 24
percent — 14 percent by Afghan national security forces, 6 percent by American
forces and 4 percent by government-backed armed groups. Responsibility for the
rest could not be established.
The
single biggest cause of civilian casualties was suicide bombings and related
attacks by insurgents, the report found.
The numbers of civilian casualties caused by suicide bombings and by American
and Afghan government airstrikes were each the highest recorded since the
United Nations issued its first report in 2009.
The
figures reflected a surge in fighting as both sides in the conflict, which is
in its 18th year, stepped up attacks as they sought leverage in peace talks
between the United States and the Taliban.
The report was released a day before the next round of peace talks between American and
Taliban negotiators, scheduled for Monday in Doha, Qatar. The Taliban refuse to negotiate with the Afghan government, which
they consider illegitimate.
It was a reminder that, even amid hopes for peace, civilians
face a rising tide of threats.
Last year’s tally of 3,804 civilian deaths was the highest ever
recorded by the United Nations. Overall civilian casualties rose 5 percent, to
10,993, but that was slightly below 2015 and 2016.
Among the dead last year were 927 children, also the highest
annual total reported by the United Nations. Insurgents were responsible for 44
percent of child casualties in 2018, with Afghan and American forces blamed for
34 percent. The number of children killed in airstrikes more than doubled in
2018 compared with 2017, the report said.
In a statement,
Tadamichi Yamamoto, the United Nations secretary general’s special
representative for Afghanistan, called the figures “deeply disturbing and
wholly unacceptable.” Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations high commissioner
for human rights, called the record number of children killed “particularly
shocking.”
The United Nations urged the Taliban to stop indiscriminately
bombing civilians and asked the Afghan government and the United States to more
rigorously investigate allegations of civilian casualties and to provide
reparations.
In a letter included in the
report, the United States military command in Kabul, the Afghan capital, said
“all feasible precautions” were taken to limit civilian casualties. Any allegation
of civilian casualties considered “serious” resulted in “an inquiry and formal
review process,” it said.
The letter
listed 62 confirmed deaths and 55 confirmed injuries from American combat
operations last year. An additional 68 deaths and 66 injuries were listed as
“disputed” because of insufficient information.
A Taliban letter
rejected the United Nations’ findings and denied that insurgents fired from
civilian areas, used civilians as cover or engaged in “indiscriminate and
disproportionate” attacks against civilians using homemade bombs.
A letter from the
Afghan government said its tally of civilian casualties caused by Afghan forces
was “significantly lower” than the numbers in the United Nations report. It
called protecting civilians the Afghan government’s “paramount duty.”
Almost all of the
civilian deaths and injuries attributed to American forces resulted from
airstrikes. They caused a record 536 civilian deaths last year, more than the
deaths from airstrikes in 2014, 2015 and 2016 combined, the report said.
American
aircraft dropped more than 7,300 bombs, missiles and other munitions over
Afghanistan last year, up from 4,300 in 2017 and 1,300 in 2016, according to United
States Air Force data. The airstrikes were part of an effort to
displace the Taliban, who control more territory now than
at any time since the United States invaded in 2001.
The pace of ground attacks rose
as well. American and Afghan commandos more than doubled the number of
joint raids from September to early February, compared with the
same five-month period a year earlier, military data show.
Civilian
casualties attributed to Afghan and American forces rose 24 percent compared
with 2017, the United Nations reported.
The report said
government search operations had killed 284 civilians. It attributed many of
those casualties to covert C.I.A.-backed units whose abuses were detailed in a New York Times
report in December.
Insurgents also went
on the offensive, carrying out an average of 1,700
attacks a month late last year, according to the Special
Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, a United States agency. The
United Nations said ground clashes were responsible for nearly a third of
civilian casualties in 2018.
The arrival of
Islamic State militants in Afghanistan after 2014 posed a new threat to
civilians, especially Hazaras, a mostly Shiite Muslim minority. The Islamic
State, a Sunni Muslim group, considers Hazaras apostates and has targeted them
for attack.
The only significant
pause in civilian casualties last year came in June, when both sides agreed to a brief cease-fire
during the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
Two large-scale insurgent campaigns
contributed to high civilian casualty rates: a suicide ambulance attack in
Kabul in January, and insurgent attacks against
polling sites during the parliamentary election in October. The
United Nations said nearly half of all insurgent suicide bombs and complex
attacks in 2018 took place in Kabul.
Since 2009, the United
Nations has reported 32,000 civilians killed and 60,000 injured.
“In
addition to the lives lost, the dire security situation is preventing many
Afghans from enjoying their economic, social and cultural rights, with
thousands of children already handicapped for life because of attacks on
schools and medical facilities,” Ms. Bachelet, the United Nations official,
said in a statement.
Fahim
Abed contributed reporting.
