Afghan officials have often spoken out about civilian deaths, arguing that the international forces are not being careful enough to avoid such casualties as the war nears its tenth year. Insurgents also try to use the civilian death toll as a way of rallying support for their cause.
In Helmand, a Taleban stronghold and scene of some of the heaviest fighting in the war, the provincial governor’s office said the five civilians died Tuesday as militants attacked coalition forces in the Sangin district. Seven insurgents were killed in the battle, according to the statement from the governor’s office.
NATO has said it was investigating the civilian fatalities and that it exercises the utmost caution during operations to minimize such occurrences. The coalition said Tuesday that insurgents were using a civilian home to attack its forces and that the insurgents launched their attack with assault rifles and a machine gun. NATO troops returned fire and used mortars.
A UN report this month said that Afghan civilian casualties increased by 20 percent in the first 10 months of 2010, compared with the same period a year earlier. It said there were at least 6,215 conflict-related civilian casualties — 2,412 deaths and 3,803 injuries.
But the UN report also found that civilian casualties attributed to NATO and pro-government forces dropped by 18 percent compared to the first 10 months of 2009.
The Taleban on Wednesday rejected the UN report, saying in a statement that it was an exaggeration and “one-sided.”
The statement, e-mailed to the media, said the UN had over the past year issued similarly biased reports and claimed the report was prepared in consultation with the US.
The increased civilian fatalities, coupled with the daily clashes in many parts of the country, underscore the difficulty in combatting the Taleban and other militants despite years of war and recent stepped-up efforts by NATO with the addition of about 30,000 new US troops.
In tandem with the coalition forces, Afghan troops have also increasingly asserted their presence and efforts in the country — gains made possible by a steady increase in the size of the national army. Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi told reporters the Afghan National Army has grown to 150,000 troops. That’s about 50,000 more than last year.
But as the army has grown, so too has the toll it has suffered. In what has become the deadliest year for international troops in Afghanistan, with 695 NATO troops killed, Azimi said 806 Afghan soldiers have been killed since the start of 2010. So far this month, 63 Afghan soldiers have died, compared to 43 in November, he said.
