So far this year US and allies cause more Afghan civilian deaths than the Taliban

The most recent UN report on civilian deaths in Afghanistan during the US occupation indicates that so far this year the US and its allied forces have killed more civilians in the country than the Taliban has.

Less civilian deaths overall

The increase in the number of civilians killed by the US and allies is due to an increasing number of US and Afghan airstrikes. However, the total number is down because of a change in tactics by the Taliban. There has been a massive decrease in the number of suicide attacks by the Taliban which often killed civilians. However, the number of deaths from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has increased.

Taliban gaining territory with less reliance on suicide terror attacks

The Taliban now are winning battles for territory on the ground. This means they need to rely less on terror-inducing suicide attacks. On the other side, the US and Afghan forces are becoming more desperate especially as their ground operations are not going well. As a result they are increasing the number of airstrikes to try and stem their losses. This results in more civilian casualties.

The numbers

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released its first quarterly report to find that Afghan and US forces killed more civilians than the Taliban, the first time this has happened since the group began tracking civilian casualties a decade ago.

The US and Afghan forces were responsible for 53 percent of civilian deaths.

In the first quarter, between January 1 and March 31 this year UNAMA recorded 305 civilian deaths and 303 injuries that were attributed to pro-government forces. This is a 39 percent jump from the same period last year.

The report states: “Continuing trends observed in 2018, UNAMA documented increased harm to civilians from aerial and search operations, with the highest number of civilian casualties recorded from each of these tactic types in the first quarter of any year since UNAMA began systematic documentation the report states."

Effect of airstrikes

Pro-government forces carried out 43 air operations during the first quarter killing 145 and injuring 83 civilians the report claims. Half of the casualties in the attacks were women and children including a March 23 airstrike on Kunduz that killed 13 civilians, 10 of them children and 2 women.

Suicide attack deaths down but IED casualties up

While suicide bombings were down, the casualties from improvised explosive devices were up. The attacks spiked 21 percent with 53 deaths and 269 injuries.

The UNAMA report notes: “The overall reduction of civilian casualties was driven by a decrease in civilian casualties by suicide [IED] attacks. UNAMA notes the particularly harsh winter conditions during the first three months of the year, which may have contributed to this trend. It is unclear whether the decrease in civilian casualties was influenced by any measures taken by parties to the conflict to better protect civilians, or by the ongoing talks between parties to the conflict.”

The US has expressed regret for the increase in Afghan civilian deaths as reported in a recent Digital Journal article.

Previously published in the Digital Journal

US drone kills at least 34 attending funeral of a member of the Taliban

On Friday June 5, US drones attacked a funeral for a Taliban fighter in Khost province. Since the funeral was for an alleged Taliban fighter, the Afghan government assumed that the mourners were all members of the Taliban as well.

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A Taliban spokesperson, Zablullah Mujahid, confirmed the attack, but insisted that a number of those killed were innocent members of the same nomadic tribe to which the victim belonged. Mujahid claimed that 20 civilians were killed in the strike. Afghan members of parliament from the region also insisted that a number of civilians were killed in the strikes. Haidar Naeemzoi, a representative of nomads in the lower house of the national assembly insisted that all the victims were civilians:“A U.S. drone attacked people who were returning from the cemetery. The plane targeted two vehicles killing at least 15 people on the spot."

As often is the case, there is a conflicting story but this one is being pushed only by the Khost provincial police who claimed that the US strike was against Taliban forces who were retreating near the Pakistan border. Another report, indicates that many of the mourners came across the border from Pakistan to the attend the ceremony. An anonymous border police officer said:“The incident has taken place few kilometers from the border line with Pakistan. The majority of the insurgents killed in the airstrike had crossed the border to attend the funeral ceremony. All the bodies were collected by security forces and all of them were Taliban militants. There are no civilian casualties.”

There were other drone attacks which took place late on Thursday in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan. In two bombings at least 17 suspected Taliban members were killed. A regional police spokesperson said that the attacks were on three vehicles containing the insurgents. He also said that among the dead was an important Taliban commander. While the US has made many attacks in the province of late and claim to have killed 50 Taliban, the Islamic State is also busy beheading Taliban members as the group struggles to take over Taliban territory.