Afghan men react as they are surrounded by the bodies of men, women and children who died or were injured after a suicide bomber detonated a bomb during a wedding ceremony in Kabul. (AFP News) |
This is Called "Victory"
- Afghan civilian casualties pass 10,000 for the first time.
- Meanwhile back in the USA the political hacks give each other high-fives and strut in front of the TV news cameras talking about their hard work and victory in Afghanistan.
(DW News) - Civilian casualties in Afghanistan rose by 19 percent in the first 11 months of 2014 compared to a year earlier, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). More than 3,180 civilians were killed and nearly 6,430 injured by the end of November.
The number of casualties involving children increased by 33 percent. Projections indicate that the civilian casualty count will pass 10,000 for the first time in a single year, the highest number since the organization began systematically documenting civilian casualties in 2009.
Many analysts view the latest figures as a worrying sign that the conflict is spreading to more densely populated areas of the South Asian nation.
The UN data comes at a critical time for Afghanistan as NATO recently marked the official end of the military alliance's ISAF mission in the country after almost 13 years of fighting an insurgency. The ISAF combat mission will now transition to a "training and support" mission - numbering some 13,500 soldiers - under NATO leadership starting on January 1.
What were the main causes of these casualties?
Ground engagements between pro-government forces and insurgents, particularly in civilian-populated areas, caused the most civilian casualties (32 percent), a new trend in 2014. In previous years, IEDs used by anti-government elements had consistently been the main cause of civilian casualties. This year, the total number of civilian casualties caused by IEDs continued rising, but they fell second (29 percent) to ground engagements as the main cause of civilian casualties.
Other major causes of civilian casualties were: suicide attacks (11 percent), targeted killings (10 percent) and complex attacks (five percent) by insurgent groups; unexploded ordnance from the current and previous conflicts (four percent); and airstrikes (two percent) and search operations (two percent) conducted by pro-government forces.
Can all of these casualties be attributed to insurgent groups?
UNAMA attributed 75 per cent of all civilian casualties documented in 2014 to attacks and operations carried out by insurgents. Afghan national security forces and international troops caused 11 per cent of all civilian killings. Nine per cent of all civilian deaths and injuries occurred during ground engagements between militants and security forces, in which attribution to a specific party was not possible. They were mostly cross fire incidents.
Which areas of the country were among the most affected?
The southeastern and southern regions of Afghanistan witnessed the highest numbers of civilian casualties with 21 and 20 percent of all civilian casualties respectively. Seventeen percent of all civilian casualties were documented in the eastern region with 15 percent of civilian deaths and injuries occurring in the central region of Afghanistan.
Read More . . . .
Truck Bomb attack against Afghan Government Building
Eight South Africans died in a suicide bomb attack which killed 12 in Kabul in Afghanistan. |
Suicide bombers attack an Afghan peace delegation. |
. 2007 blast from the past cartoon. I don't always agree with Leftist cartoonist Ted Rall, but he is an equal opportunity offender attacking the insane policies of both Democrats and Republicans. |
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