Fresh off of the UN releasing a report on the record civilian casualties
in the first half of 2019, they have issued a monthly civilian casualty
report for July of 2019, saying it was the highest single month of casualties, at more than 1,500, since May 2017.
The UN issued a statement expressing “grave concerns” about the rising
casualties, and the Secretary-General’s special representative urged
both parties not to ramp up attacks in attempts to get a stronger
position during their peace talks.
They faulted both sides for not putting more procedures in place about
harm caused to civilians, and calling on both sides to be more honest in
public about their civilian casualties caused.
This is clearly a reference to the US objecting to the last report,
which noted the US and Afghan government were killing more civilians
than the Taliban. The Pentagon claimed to have better metrics than the
UN has, though the Pentagon has so far kept their records of civilian
casualties totally secret.
UN: July Afghan Casualties Highest Since 2017
UN urges both sides not to ramp up military operations
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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