KABUL (Reuters) - Western and government troops killed fewer
civilians in Afghanistan in 2009 but far more died at the hands of
insurgents, making it the deadliest year of the eight-year war, a U.N.
report said on Wednesday.
Civilian casualties, one of the most emotive issues of the war, rose
14 percent overall to more than 2,400, the Human Rights division of the
U.N.'s Afghan mission said.
Reducing the civilian deaths caused by his troops has been a central
focus of General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of NATO and U.S.
forces, who took over in the middle of 2009 promising a new strategy to
protect Afghans.
The report showed a clear improvement by Western and government
troops, which killed 25 percent fewer civilians than in 2008, despite
suffering their own record losses. Killings by insurgents rose 40
percent, more than making up the difference.
In all, insurgents caused two-thirds of civilian deaths, while a
quarter were caused by government or foreign troops. The remaining 8
percent could not be attributed to either.
McChrystal imposed new restrictions on the use of force by his
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), particularly air
strikes, in areas where civilians might be hurt, arguing that civilian
deaths aid insurgents by angering the population.
Around 60 percent of those killed by Western forces died in air
strikes, the U.N. report said. It also condemned the placement of
military bases near areas where many civilians live, and violent
"search and seizure" raids by pro-government and foreign troops.
"These often involved excessive use of force, destruction of
property and cultural insensitivity, particularly toward women," Norah
Niland, the chief human rights officer at the United Nations in Kabul,
said in a statement.
COMPENSATION CALL
Activists said Western forces should do more to reduce the impact when civilians are harmed, by offering compensation.
"McChrystal's guidance on protecting civilians obviously is working.
But for the 25 percent of casualties that pro-government forces cause,
ISAF still doesn't have a way of properly addressing the harm," said
Sarah Holewinski, executive director of the Campaign for Innocent
Victims in Conflict.
"Our research in Afghanistan shows that in the vast majority of
these cases Afghans receive nothing for deaths, injuries or property
losses."
Insurgents killed civilians in suicide attacks, roadside bombings
and firefights. "Civilians are also being deliberately assassinated,
abducted and executed if they are perceived as being associated with
the government or the international community," Niland said.
She called on militants to follow the Taliban's own "code of conduct" which calls for protection of civilians.
Last year was also by far the war's deadliest for foreign troops,
with the United States and Britain each losing more than twice as many
soldiers as in any previous year.
The report said unrest and violence were spreading to once calm
areas, such as the northeast, although nearly half of all deaths were
still in the volatile southern part of Afghanistan.
"Despite promises in 2009, security is getting worse by the day.
Politicians and commanders have made many promises about protecting the
population, but so far we have not seen the results," said Mudassir
Rasuli, spokesman for the group Afghan NGOs against civilian casualties.
(Additional reporting and writing by Peter Graff, editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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