Islamic Emirate called IEP’s findings on Afghanistan ‘unjust’

KABUL (TOLO News): The Islamic Emirates reacted to the recent “Global Peace Index 2022” of the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), saying that the findings regarding Afghanistan are “unjust”.

The IEP said in the “Global Peace Index 2022″ that Afghanistan is the “least peaceful country in the world for the fifth consecutive year, followed by Yemen, Syria, Russia and South Sudan.”

All of these countries have been among the ten least peaceful countries for the last three years, according to the IEP.

The IEP said that Afghanistan recorded the largest reduction in deaths from armed conflict in 2022 with conflict-related deaths falling 90.6 per cent, from almost 43,000 to just over 4,000.

“Afghanistan recorded the fifth largest improvement in peacefulness in the 2023 GPI, however it remains the least peaceful country in the world. Although violence is still widespread throughout the country, the level of conflict has dropped considerably since the withdrawal of US troops in August 2021, and the subsequent Taliban takeover of the government,” the Index cited.

According to the IEP, the perceptions of criminality of Afghan civilians improved slightly, with the number of people who say they felt unsafe walking alone falling from 84 per cent to 77 percent.

The intensity of internal conflict improved, owing to fewer reported instances of hostilities between the Taliban and the National Resistance Front over the past year, the Index reads.

“Terrorist incidents in Afghanistan fell by 75 percent in 2022, with deaths from terrorism falling 58 per cent, leading to improvements on the terrorism impact and internal conflicts fought indicators,” the Index said.

The Islamic Emirate’s spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said that the terrorist incidents have dropped over “99 percent” compared to “what is stated in the report”.

“They said that the number of casualties went up. They still say 4,000 civilian casualties — it is untrue. We may have casualties up to 1,000. There have been some Daesh attacks in the past years or one last year, but (Daesh) is controlled.

“There is insecurity in Afghanistan at the moment, but Afghanistan is not the most insecure country in the world. We should observe between security and safety,” said Sarwar Niazai, a political analyst.

The IEP said that the security situation in Afghanistan remains uncertain, “with an escalation in conflict between ISK and the Taliban remaining a strong possibility.”

“Various terrorist groups can take advantage of the poverty and misery of people and can bring back the proxy war of the world’s power to our soil and can make Afghanistan insecure,” said Andar Khan Ahmad, political analyst.

According to the IEP, while the conflict in Ukraine has had wide media coverage, a number of other internal conflicts around the world have recorded substantial declines in deaths, such as in Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria and Somali.