AFGHANISTAN: Western Afghanistan Sees Reduction in Civilian Casualties

By Sgt. Brian Kester
7/21/10 | ISAF Public Affairs Office

KABUL, Afghanistan (July 22) – In western Afghanistan the incidence of civilian casualties due to combat operations is at an all time low. In every instance where a civilian casualty was caused by combat operations, it can be attributed to the violence of insurgents, according to statistics gathered by the U.S. Marine Special Operations Forces assigned to Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan.

Advertisements

Read Full Post »

AFGHANISTAN: More fighting, greater humanitarian needs

Source: IRIN

KABUL, 13 July 2010 – The need for humanitarian aid will increase in Afghanistan over the next 12 months when more than 130,000 US/NATO troops, backed by tens of thousands of Afghan forces, seek to make military gains against a resurgent Taliban, aid agencies warn.

Read Full Post »

AFGHANISTAN: Civilian deaths rise as Afghan fight intensifies

Sat, Jul 10 2010
By Rob Taylor

KABUL (Reuters) – Hundreds of Afghans took to the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif Saturday to protest against mounting civilian deaths, while five U.S. and NATO troops died in separate insurgent attacks on a bloody day of fighting across the country.

Read Full Post »

AFGHANISTAN: Afghan Civilians Said to Be Killed in an Airstrike

By Rod Nordland

Source: New York Times

June 19, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan — Ten civilians, including at least five women and children, were killed in NATO airstrikes in Khost Province, the provincial police chief said Saturday. Five other civilians were killed, as were two Afghan National Army soldiers and two police officials, in other violence around the country on Saturday.

Read Full Post »

AFGHANISTAN: Military convoys put civilians “at risk”

KABUL, 16 June 2010 (IRIN) – Only seconds after a convoy of armoured military vehicles passed Fawad Tokhi, 35, at about 8.20am in the south of Kabul city on 18 May, he was wounded in a suicide attack.

Read Full Post »

AFGHANISTAN: Afghan victims of Taliban violence suffer in silence

AFP

By LYNNE O’DONNELL

November 22, 2009

KABUL — The stench of sewage hangs in the air as barefoot children clamber up a suburban hillside in Kabul, past green flags that flap over the graves of Afghans killed in suicide attacks.

Perhaps a third of the tombs, each surrounded by a wrought-iron fence, are marked as the final resting places of “martyrs,” as the victims of Taliban attacks are known.

Afghanistan is one of the world’s poorest countries, but three decades of war and an increasingly brutal Islamist insurgency have left it rich in martyrs and the misery their deaths leave behind.

In little more than three months, in Kabul alone, devastating suicide attacks have killed around 100 people. About 300 people have been injured.

Read Full Post »

AFGHANISTAN: Fears grow as Taliban bomb government buildings before vote

The Globe and Mail

By HAMID SHALIZI

Taliban bombers, some disguised as women with suicide vests hidden under their burkas, stormed government buildings near Kabul in a brazen attack just 10 days before a presidential election.

Gun battles lasted for hours Monday and smoke poured from blasted buildings in Pul-e-Alam, capital of Logar province, about an hour’s drive from Kabul. Three policemen and two civilians were killed, along with six militants, said Deen Mohammad Darwish, spokesman for the provincial governor.

It was the latest in a series of assaults in the run-up to the Aug. 20 election. The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the poll, and the United Nations says spiralling violence threatens to keep many Afghans from voting.

Read Full Post »