Afghanistan realities

For the first time since the United Nations began documenting civilian casualties in Afghanistan a decade ago, a UN report revealed that more Afghan civilians were killed by Nato and Afghan security forces than the Taliban and other terrorist groups in the first quarter of 2019. The report said that 305 civilians were killed by Nato and Afghan forces, while terrorist groups were responsible for the killing of 227 people. The UN Assistance Mission for Afghanistan documented 581 deaths, including 150 children, between Jan 1 and March 31 this year. Civilian casualties were mostly caused by air strikes and ground search operations by the security forces. It is important to mention that Taliban this month announced the spring offensive, whereas the security forces intensified their crackdown. This has led to a sharp escalation in fighting between the two sides.In this context, Pakistan pledged neutrality in the Afghan conflict and at the same time denounced both the Taliban’s spring offensive and intensified security operations by Afghan forces, saying such actions weaken prospects for peace. However, in these circumstances, any move toward reconciliation is unlikely because an increased civilian death toll drives more Afghans away from supporting an international military presence in Afghanistan; operation commanders may have to start considering the rising price of their anti-insurgent successes.Afia AmbreenRawalpindi

from The News International - Newspost http://bit.ly/2ZHwjb1