Govt welcome UN report on casualties, disagree with figures

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: Afghan government on Thursday welcomed UN report on civilian causalities in Afghanistan and said prevention of civilian causalities was government top priority.

As many as 10,453 civilians lost their lives or suffered injuries during 2017, according the UN latest annual report documenting the impact of the armed conflict on civilians in Afghanistan.

A total of 10,453 civilian casualties – 3,438 people killed and 7,015 injured – were documented in the 2017 Annual Report released on Thursday by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Human Rights Office, a statement from the UNAMA said.

Gen. Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the Ministry of Defence, told reporters here that civilian causalities was not acceptable to the government and the president had issues directions to prevent civilian causalities.

He said special committees had been formed in the MoD and Ministry of Interior (MoI) to work on the prevention of civilian casualties.

He said a special strategy in this regard had been formulated while last 400 individuals had been trained to guide personnel of MoD and MoI on how to prevent civilian causalities.

He added the loss of civilians during conflict had declined in the UN report and credited his personal who moved carefully and prevented harm to civilians.

“We don’t reject UNAMA report, but the figure they released was higher than our figures,” said Waziri.

He said according to MoD 9,143 civilian suffered causalities with 2,903 dead and 6,240 injured last in Afghanistan.