It stated that the conflict has now apparently become an exclusively civilian fight. Pro-Government Forces PGFs were responsible for 25 per cent of civilian casualties: 23 per cent by Afghan national security forces, and two per cent by pro-Government armed groups or undetermined PGFs. Civilian casualties attributed to anti-Government elements increased by 63 per cent compared with the same period in , while civilian casualties attributed to PGFs increased by 30 per cent.
The leading causes of civilian casualties in the first half of were the extensive use of improvised explosive devices IEDs by opposition forces, ground engagements between parties, targeted killings by non-state groups and airstrikes by the Afghan Air Force. UNAMA said it was deeply concerned about these attacks which deliberately target civilians , including government workers, human rights defenders, media workers, religious elders, and humanitarian workers, and sectarian-motivated attacks.
Children, it stated, were deliberately targeted on at least one occasion. The most shocking incident was the 8 May attack outside the Sayed ul-Shuhuda school in Kabul, which resulted in more than civilian casualties, mostly schoolgirls, including 85 killed, for which no group has claimed responsibility.
The UN mission said it was also concerned about the increasing number of reports of killing, ill-treatment, persecution and discrimination in communities affected by the fighting and its aftermath.
Massoud's son Ahmad led the resistance against the Taliban the second time they took control of Afghanistan, but last week the militant group declared victory, posting footage of their fighters raising their flag. The resistance forces have vowed to fight on, with Ahmad Massoud calling for a "national uprising" against the Taliban.
Now attention is turning to what happens next in Panjshir, as elsewhere in Afghanistan, with the Taliban back in charge. When the Taliban entered the valley, they encouraged residents to carry on as normal.
If they are farmers, they can go to their farms. We are here to protect them, their lives and their families. But instead of this, footage from the ground shows once-busy marketplaces deserted. People have been trying to flee, with long lines of vehicles forming below the valley's craggy peaks. There have been warnings of shortages of food and medicine. The Taliban has denied targeting civilians. But coming after reports of a massacre of members of the Hazara minority and the killing of a policewoman , it is a further sign that the reality on the ground differs from the Taliban's promises of no revenge attacks.
This looks to very much be the same pattern. Fields, roads, and school buildings are contaminated by ordnance, which often harms children as they go about chores like gathering wood. The war has also inflicted invisible wounds. In , the Afghan Ministry of Public Health reported that fully two-thirds of Afghans suffer from mental health problems. Prior wars and civil conflict in the country have made Afghan society extremely vulnerable to the reverberating effects of the current war. Those war effects include elevated rates of disease due to lack of clean drinking water, malnutrition, and reduced access to health care.
Nearly every factor associated with premature death — poverty, malnutrition, poor sanitation, lack of access to health care, environmental degradation — is exacerbated by the current war.
0コメント