 |
| The bombing of a bank in Kabul in February killed many |
News reports released this month find 2010 to be the deadliest year to date in war plagued Afghanistan. The civilian death toll reached an alarming rate, the UN claims 2777 Afghan people, mainly women and children, were victims of violence that blankets the region. The UN claims that anti government elements were responsible for 2080 deaths, which is 75% of the civilian deaths in the past year. This statistic has been on the rise since the war began in 2001. The second greatest cause of civilian casualties has been cited as suicide attacks and IED explosions. The UN states in a report that 462 Afghan people were killed by fringe, anti-government extremists, most likely linked to terrorist cells such as Al-Quieda and the Taliban. This upward trend has risen 105% in the last two years. Most of these killings have occurred in the Southern Providences of Afghanistan, Helmand and Kandahar. The Afghan government in coalition with the UN want to regulate the killing of civilians by anti-government extremists. These organizations wish to create laws that will restrict the ability of these groups to murder innocent people. The government in Afghanistan is considering designating a separate body of officials dedicated to stopping these murders and attacks. This group would have power to respond to these crises.
The UN and other organizations are calling for troop withdrawal by 2014, all foreign troops now stationed in the country and maintaining security will hand control over the Afghan security personnel. This transition will prove very telling for the Afghan people and the future of the country. Many Afghan people do not like the army forces in their country, just last week an air strike lead to the death of nine small children. Commonly civilians are mistakenly killed in the crossfire between military and insurgent groups.
 |
| The death toll in 2010 rose steadily to the highest yet. Insurgents mostly to blame for wide spread violence. |
I can understand why the people Afghanistan would not like a military presence in their country, but at the same time I think its needed. We need to show the terrorists that our country is not afraid to stand up to them. I do however think we need to work on the civilian casualties.
ReplyDeleteOnly a tiny fraction of a percentage of people in Afghanistan are 'terrorists.' While we chase this small number (who may actually be hiding in Pakistan), thousands of innocent people are killed, injured or live in constant fear. Can there be better ways to fight terrorism, with less side effects?
ReplyDeleteWhat I find to be the most saddening part of this post is the fact that most of those killed in Afghanistan were women and children. When I think of violence in the Middle East I just assume that it's men that are responsible. The loss of any life is tragic, but knowing that it's women and children puts a completely different aspect in the situation.
ReplyDelete