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UN: Afghan Health Care Under Deliberate Attack From Warring Sides

Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD - The United Nations has accused Taliban insurgents and
   Afghan government forces of deliberate attacks on the country's health
   care workers and facilities during the coronavirus outbreak.
   The pandemic has infected nearly 29,000 Afghans, killing close to 600,
   although independent experts and even Afghan officials fear the actual
   rate is much higher, due to lack of testing availability.
   In a special report released Sunday, the [1]U.N. Assistance Mission in
   Afghanistan documents 15 incidents of violence targeting healthcare
   since early March, when the pandemic reached the war-torn country.
   "Most of these healthcare-related incidents-- eight of the targeted
   attacks and two of the incidents with incidental harm --were attributed
   to the Taliban," according to the UNAMA findings.
   The report held Afghan security forces responsible for three "targeted"
   attacks against healthcare. It said one instance of incidental harm to
   healthcare occurred during clashes between government forces and
   Taliban insurgents.
   The UNAMA condemns all deliberate attacks, threats, abductions and
   other intentional acts against healthcare facilities and personnel.
   "Perpetrating targeted attacks on healthcare during the COVID-19
   pandemic, a time when health resources are already stretched and of
   critical importance to the civilian population, is particularly
   reprehensible," Fiona Frazer, UNAMA chief of human rights, said.
   The report described as the "most abhorrent" a May 12 armed attack
   against a maternity ward run by Doctors Without Borders, known by its
   French acronym MSF, in the Afghan capital, Kabul, which remains
   unattributed to date.

References

   1. https://unama.unmissions.org/deliberate-attacks-healthcare-afghanistan-during-covid-19-pandemic-%E2%80%93-un-special-report

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