Afghan Civilian Deaths Rise Sharply in 2013- but YAY, we're saving women from The Taliban
or something like that.
Civilian deaths in the conflict in Afghanistan rose sharply last year, nearing the record levels of bloodletting reached in 2011 as Afghan security forces stepped up operations and Taliban-led insurgents continued to target innocents, according to U.N. statistics released Saturday.
Despite U.S.-led efforts to wind down the war, the annual U.N. report showed that more women and children died in conflict-related violence than in any year since 2009 as more ground combat occurred in populated areas and insurgents increased their use of improvised bombs in public places.
The statistics were a grim reversal from 2012, which saw civilian deaths decline for the first time in six years. The total of 2,959 deaths recorded by the U.N. in 2013 represented a 7% rise from 2012, and brought the number of civilians killed since 2009 to more than 14,000. An additional 5,656 Afghan civilians were injured in 2013, a 17% increase from 2012.
While anti-government militants were blamed for the clear majority of civilian deaths, in line with previous years, deaths attributed to Afghan and international forces rose by 59%, the report said. As Afghan forces have taken the lead in nearly all military operations, the report suggested that the country's nascent army and paramilitary forces needed to do more to protect civilians caught up in fighting.
http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-afghan-civilian-deaths-20140208,0,886554.story#ixzz2sjpL8tTY