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February 17, 2009

UN Reports 40 Percent Increase in Afghan Civilian Deaths in 2008
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World body attributes most deaths to military forces including Afghan,
foreign troops 
The United Nations says more than 2,000 civilians were killed in the
conflict in Afghanistan in 2008, a 40 percent increase over the number
who lost their lives in 2007. Afghan woman and daughter cry after
relative is killed in military airstrike in Herat province (2008 File)A
U.N. report issued Tuesday says militants were responsible for 55
percent of the 2,118 civilian deaths last year. The world body
attributes 39 percent of the deaths to military forces, including Afghan
and foreign troops. The remaining deaths could not be accounted for
because of issues like cross-fire. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has
repeatedly said civilian deaths are raising tensions between Washington
and Kabul, as well as undermining the Afghan people's support for the
presence of international troops. In another development, the commander
of U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia is in Uzbekistan for
talks with top government officials about the security situation in
Afghanistan. A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Tashkent says General David
Petraeus arrived in Uzbekistan Tuesday, and he will meet President Islam
Karimov. Talks are expected to focus on alternate supply routes for U.S.
and NATO troops in Afghanistan. In 2005, the Uzbek government evicted
U.S. forces from a base that was used to serve troops in Afghanistan.
Now, the U.S. has a lease at only one other base in the region -
Kyrgyzstan's Manas Air Base. But the Kyrgyz parliament says it will vote
Thursday on a bill to end U.S. access to that facility. Meanwhile,
military officials in Afghanistan say Afghan Army Commandos, assisted by
coalition forces, killed five insurgents during an operation in western
Afghanistan's Farah province. And Britain's Defense Ministry and NATO
said a British soldier serving with NATO-led forces died Monday from
combat wounds in southern Afghanistan.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.


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