Air strikes kill fewer civilians in Afghanistan

 
Plea: Hamid Karzai is seeking assurances from donor nations
Bo Wilson19 February 2013

The number of Afghan civilians killed in US and Nato air strikes dropped by nearly half last year to 126, the UN said today.

Its report came a day after Afghan president Hamid Karzai banned government forces from requesting foreign air support during operations in residential areas.

The total number of civilians killed last year also fell by 12 per cent from 3,131 in 2011 to 2,754, according to the annual report by the United Nations Mission to Afghanistan.

The UN attributed the fall largely to declines in the number of suicide attacks and air strikes, although the latter still claimed the lives of 51 children.

While it was the first reduction in casualties in six years, the UN expressed concern about a rise in

targeted killings and human rights abuses by armed groups, a frightening trend as foreign powers prepare to withdraw their combat troops by the end of next year. It also said the number of Afghan women and girls killed and injured increased by 20 per cent last year.

The Taliban and other insurgents killed 2,179 civilians and wounded 3,952 last year, a nine per cent increase on 2011.

By contrast, the number of casualties blamed on US and allied forces decreased by 46 per cent, with 316 killed and 271 wounded.

Other deaths could not be attributed to either party.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in