Taliban reject UN report on Afghanistan
Press TV – August 12, 2010
The Taliban militants have strongly rejected a United Nations report that blamed the group for bulk of civilian causalities in Afghanistan.
A Taliban statement posted on their website on Thursday said the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has taken the side of the US-led forces stationed in the war-torn country.
“Observing the statistics issued by UNAMA, it appears crystal-clear that the report is based on political expedience, exaggeration and propaganda instead of surfacing the facts,” the statement read.
“Every observer would easily determine the truth of such reports as this and assess how authentic and spurious such reports may be,” it added.
The assessment issued on Tuesday by UNAMA blamed 25 percent of the deaths on attacks by foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan, adding that the rest of the killings were mainly caused by Afghan militants.
UNAMA said the civilian casualties in the country have risen by 31 percent in the first six months of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009. The report also noted that over 1,270 civilians have been killed and nearly 2,000 others have been injured as a result of the conflict.
“Afghan children and women are increasingly bearing the brunt of the conflict,” Staffan de Mistura, the special representative of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said in Kabul.
“They are being killed and injured in their homes and communities in greater numbers than ever before,” he added.
US-led forces in Afghanistan regularly launch attacks on alleged militant hideouts, but the strikes usually result in civilian casualties.
Civilians have been the main victims of violence in Afghanistan, particularly in the country’s troubled southern and eastern provinces, where they are killed by both militant and foreign fire. The issue of civilian deaths has long been a source of friction between Kabul and Washington.

Uh, let me see, who is the occupier? With no occupieing forces there would be no civilian causalties.
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