Islamabad/Kabul: The United Nations said on Tuesday that a large number of civilians have been killed and injured in attacks since the Taliban took over Afghanistan. According to the world body, this is the situation in the country despite a drastic reduction in the number of casualties in the country as compared to the era of war and terrorism. According to a new report released by the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), since the implementation of Taliban rule in Afghanistan in mid-August of 2021 till May this year, there have been a total of 3,774 civilian casualties in the country, including those killed in violence. According to the report, this number is much less than the total of 8,820 civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2020 alone, of which the death toll is 3,035. The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, during the final phase of the withdrawal of US and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) forces from the country after the two-decade-long Afghan war. According to a UN report, IEDs (improvised explosive devices) have been used in three-quarters of attacks since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan “targeting crowded places, such as places of worship, schools and markets”.
Islamic State in Khorasan attacks
Those killed in these attacks included 92 women and 287 children. The report said that most of the total IED attacks in Afghanistan were carried out by the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP), a regional affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in the region. However, the report also noted that a significant number of civilians were killed in attacks for which no group claimed responsibility or the UN mission could not trace the groups involved in these attacks. The number of such people has not been clarified in the report.
The UN report also expressed concern about a “rise in suicide attacks” since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, which led to large-scale civilian casualties despite a small number of such attacks. It said victims were struggling to access “medical, economic and psychological support” due to a drop in foreign aid to Afghanistan since the Taliban took over.
