In a report released Sunday by the U.N., more civilians were killed in the Afghan war in 2018 than during any other year on record after nearly two decades of fighting. U.N. officials said that, despite peace talks progressing, the war in Afghanistan killed almost 4,000 civilians in 2018, including a record number of children, making it the single deadliest year for Afghan civilians since the United Nations began documenting casualties a decade ago. The report suggested that Islamic militant groups were responsible for almost two-thirds of civilian casualties — 63 percent, to insurgent groups, primarily the Taliban and the Islamic State. Afghan and American forces were responsible for 24 percent; 14 percent by Afghan national security forces, six percent by American forces and four percent by government-backed armed groups. AFP reports that civilian deaths jumped by 11 percent from 2017 with 3,804 people killed and another 7,189 wounded, according to the UN figures, as suicide attacks and bombings decimated the already war-torn country.
The report was released as the next round of peace talks between U.S. and Taliban negotiators, are scheduled for Monday in Doha, Qatar, In a statement, the United Nations secretary general’s special representative for Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, called the figures “deeply disturbing and wholly unacceptable.” Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, called the record number of children killed “particularly shocking.” Tadamichi said it best when he issued a resolution to the horrendous situation, “It is time to put an end to this human misery and tragedy,”
