U.N. report: Taliban responsible for majority of killings last year in Afghanistan

[Turborama]

Source: Washington Post

Last year was the deadliest for Afghan civilians since the U.S.-led war began here in 2001, according to a United Nations report released Wednesday. But in a shift from 2008 when the United States and its allies were deemed responsible for nearly half of all civilian deaths, the survey blamed the Taliban for the vast majority of the killings last year.

The survey, by the U.N.'s human rights office in Afghanistan, said the new American commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, had largely succeeded in his goal of reducing Afghan civilian deaths by sharply restricting the use of airstrikes. But at the same time, the report said, the Taliban has stepped up efforts at intimidation through mass-casualty suicide attacks, the use of more powerful roadside bombs and executions of suspected informants.

The report said 2,412 Afghan civilians were killed in 2009, a 14 percent increase from 2008, and that the Taliban was responsible for two-thirds of those deaths. American-led coalition forces, the report said, were responsible for a quarter of the deaths, with responsibility for the remaining civilian deaths impossible to determine.

According to the figures, civilian deaths inflicted by the Taliban and other insurgents in 2009 -- some 1,630 -- represented a 40 percent increase over the previous year. Deaths caused by the United States and its allies dropped by nearly a third.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/13/AR2010011303378.html

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U.N. Blames Taliban for Afghan Toll

Source: NYT

By DEXTER FILKINS

Published: January 13, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan — Last year was the most lethal for Afghan civilians since the American-led war began here in late 2001, with the Taliban and other insurgent groups causing the vast majority of noncombatant deaths, according to a http://unama.unmissions.org/Portals/UNAMA/Press%20Releases/Jan13POCEng-UNAMA%20PRESS%20RELEASE%20Afghan%20Civilian%20safety%20first%2013%20Jan%202010%20ENG.pdf">United Nations survey released Wednesday.

http://unama.unmissions.org/Portals/UNAMA/human%20rights/Protection%20of%20Civilian%202009%20report%20English.pdf">The report said 2,412 civilians were killed in 2009, a jump of 14 percent over the previous year. Another 3,566 were wounded.

The growing number of civilian deaths reflects the intensification of the Afghan war over the same period: American and NATO combat deaths jumped to 520 last year, from 295, and the Taliban are more active than at any point in the past eight years.

But the most striking aspect of the report was the shift in responsibility for the deaths of Afghan civilians. The survey found that the Taliban and other insurgents killed more than twice the number as the American-led coalition and Afghan government forces did last year, mostly by suicide bombings, homemade bombs and executions.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/world/asia/14kabul.html

[Flaneur]

1. That sounds entirely plausible.

Suicide bombers and IEDS generate a lot of civilian casualties. This could help explain high levels of support for the West in recent polls.

On the other hand, we and our allies were responsible for some 600 civilian deaths last year, according to that UN report. Those seem to generate more outbursts of outrage among the Afghans than the toll taken by the Taliban.

And they seem to generate more outrage on DU. Perhaps it's because those dead civilians were killed with our tax dollars.

[PacerLJ35]

2. That's because we're not from there...

I'm quite positive that the Taliban killings generate outrage, but it's preferable to channel anger towards the US and NATO forces. Just a thing about culture over in that part of the world...pride in their ethnicity? I dealt with the same issue in Iraq. The Iraqis would routinely screw up their own operations, and then blame it on the US (despite the fact that we'd advise them not to do it that way).