Afghan Civilian Deaths Are Rising, Government Says

[IndianaGreen]

Published on Sunday, May 2, 2010 by the Associated Press

Afghan Civilian Deaths Are Rising, Government Says

by Rahim Faiez

KABUL - Civilian casualties are rising in Afghanistan as U.S. and NATO reinforcements stream into the country as part of a military buildup to combat the resurgent Taliban, the Interior Ministry said Sunday.

There have been 173 civilian deaths in violence in Afghanistan from March 21 to April 21, marking a 33 percent increase over the same time period last year, the ministry said. A recent quarterly report by the U.S. office overseeing Afghanistan's rebuilding confirmed an increase in civilian deaths.

The ministry did not provide a breakdown of who was responsible for the fatalities.

Civilian deaths at the hands of U.S. and other international forces are highly sensitive in Afghanistan, although the U.N. says the Taliban are responsible for most civilian casualties. Still, the backlash could undermine U.S. strategy ahead of a summer military operation in Kandahar, a key southern city that is the spiritual home of the Taliban.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/05/02

Any jokes about drones, or exuberant claims about our impending victory? :eyes:

[jaxx]

1. It's terrible the Taliban are killing their fellow citizens.

No wonder they don't know who to trust.

[Fire1]

2. Nice try but you DO know that's not where the OP places the

blame.

[jaxx]

3. It says the UN puts most deaths at the hands of the Taliban.

No doubt the military is also responsible for some of them. I still say it has to be awful for the citizens to not know who to trust, they are the pawns.

[Fire1]

4. I read it and concur. However, the "tone" of that last sentence

implies that it's the fault of the U.S. military.

[jaxx]

5. Well tones are funny things. They imply.

Kandahar will be ugly, let's hope we come out better than the Taliban do.

[Ikonoklast]

6. I guess the Taliban need to be stopped from killing their fellow countryme.