The United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA) Special Representative Jan Kubis has said the Taliban have agreed to meet with the UN officials to discuss ways to reduce civilian casualties. He also revealed new data suggesting 24 percent increase in civilian casualties during the first six months of the current year, with militants responsible for three-quarters of all 2,499 deaths.
Despite repeated UN appeals, the Taliban have rather increased their attacks that mostly kill innocent Afghan civilians. It is yet to be seen what would come of the UN-Taliban meeting on civilian casualties, but it would be more of a propaganda option for militants to point-score credibility with such meetings. They have been responsible for majority of civilian deaths during the entire decade of post-2001 conflict in Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, June 11, Taliban militants carried out an explosion in front of High Court office in Kabul that resulted in the death of 17 people and injury to around 40 others. The dead and the injured included innocent civilians and women and children. While on Sunday, they reportedly beheaded two children in Kandahar. The UN Special Representative Jan Kubis talking at a news conference in Kabul said the number of civilian causalities caused by the ‘anti-government forces’ has increased.
During the last ten years of current conflict after the US/NATO arrival in Afghanistan, Taliban have been responsible for larger civilian casualties. Whenever a roadside bomb, landmine blast or suicide bomber blow among crowds, its ordinary poor civilian Afghans who suffer the most.
A group of militant ideologues justify such merciless killing of civilians by the pretext a holy war against invaders, while others completely deny they are responsible for civilian casualties.
On the other hand, our outrage has always been selective. Whenever any civilian causality is caused by an ISAF or Afghan National Security Forces operation, strong condemnation follow from Presidential Palace and some of our opportunist political elements, but when it comes to Taliban atrocities, people keep mum or ignore.
Taliban kill civilians every day. People never bother to come out to streets chanting against Taliban when their suicide bombers kill only breadwinners of poor families. They have made hundreds of children orphan and women widow, but the guardians of our national honor never come out of the shell of hypocrisy to condemn such atrocities.
President Karzai ‘s criticism has been reflective of our overall national phenomenon with selective outrage when it comes to civilian causalities. If ordinary Afghans show strong street reaction against Taliban atrocities, militants would think twice before sending a suicide bomber and killing civilians. No matter Taliban deny it, but the fact is that they are responsible for over 80 percent of all civilian casualties.