More Afghan civilians being killed

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan’s civilian casualty toll has jumped this year as insurgents fight to recapture territory from the departing American-led coalition, a U.N. report showed on Wednesday.

The number of dead rose 14 percent, and wounded 28 percent, compared with January-June last year, UNAMA, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan, said in its midyear report.

It blamed the insurgency for 74 percent of the casualties while the Taliban defended itself by claiming they were mostly legitimate targets because they were working for its enemy, the Western-backed government.

Civilian casualties had dropped following U.S. President Barack Obama’s 30,000-troop surge. But UNAMA’s latest report cited an intensifying Taliban campaign to recapture lost ground as the coalition, which is preparing to complete its withdrawal by the end of 2014, hands over security responsibilities to a rebuilt Afghan military and police force.

UNAMA said it counted 1,319 civilian deaths and 2,533 wounded from January to June, compared with 1,158 deaths and 1,976 wounded in the first six months of 2012.

It said most were caused by homemade bombs and mines on or near roads. Nine percent were attributed to the Afghan security forces and U.S.-led international military coalition, and 12 percent to ground engagements between pro-government forces and insurgents.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Afghan forces are taking more casualties because they are doing more of the fighting against the Taliban. She said it was “inevitable that the numbers will probably rise because they’re taking on so much more capability. I think it’s 80 percent of all security operations now.”

Most foreign forces are to leave this year and there are already fewer than 100,000, 66,000 of them American. Plans to leave some troops are on hold pending signature of a delayed U.S.-Afghan security agreement.

Another cause cited by UNAMA for the intensified civilian bloodshed is a stepped-up Taliban campaign against the Afghan Local Police, equipped and trained by the U.S. as a first line of defense in remote areas. These units live among the population, so civilians are more likely to be caught in the crossfire.

UNAMA also recorded 103 attacks on civilians working for the government, in which 114 died – a 76 percent jump from the first half of last year.