The United Nations released a report on June 27 regarding the casualties under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The report said that the civilian casualties were 3774 including 1095 killed from August 15, 2021, to May 2023.
The report compared the civilian casualties in 2020 which was around 8820 including 3035 people killed. The reports show that civilian casualties have dropped under the Taliban regime as compared to 2020.
The explosions and blasts under the Taliban regime took place in the Shia Muslim populated areas, worship places, schools, and roads that killed 92 women and 287 children in the period. Most of the attacks were claimed by ISIS-K. the report shows that the number of attacks under the Taliban has dropped but the civilian casualties have increased.
The majority of deaths – just over 700 – were caused by improvised explosive devices, including suicide bombings in public places such as mosques, education centers, and markets. The report added that the majority of attacks took place in the Hazara ethnic populated areas in Afghanistan just after the victory of the Taliban.
The United Nations report regarding the civilian casualties is not comprehensive. The report included those who lost their lives in the blasts and armed attacks. But it did not cover the ones killed by the Taliban since they took power.
When the Taliban swept to power, they started searching and killing former Afghanistan security personnel. The former Afghanistan security personnel were also civilians as they were not at war and the former government had collapsed. The initial reports suggested that around 500 former security personnel were killed by Taliban.
Apart from the assassination of the former security personnel, many civil employees of the former government were also killed which were neither reported nor included in the UN report.
Secondly, the UN report comparison of casualties of 2022 with that of 2020 is not logical. In 2020 Afghanistan was at war, the whole country was in bloodshed and the Taliban was solely responsible for civilian casualties as they are today. But in 2022 the control of the whole country has been in Taliban control, and there was no war. It also shows that the number of attacks decreased but the number of civilian casualties remained high.
Thirdly, if we look at the civilian casualties, the majority of the victims belong to a single ethnic group of “Hazara”. This itself rise the question that most of the attacks were planned and carried out by the Sunni Taliban themselves like that of the blast at Kaaj Education Center in the Hazara-populated area of Dash-e-Barchi in Kabul where tens of girls and boys were slaughtered.
Recently, US President Biden said that there is no Al-Qaida in Afghanistan. The US administration and the Taliban have publicly supported each other’s efforts to undermine the credibility of the UN report. It appears that the previously undisclosed relationship between Washington D.C. & the Taliban has now been exposed. According to the June UN report, there has been an escalation in the presence of ALQ & ISIS-K in Afghanistan, along with their growing connections to the Taliban.
The UN is expected to release another report this month, which will further highlight the shortcomings of Pres. Biden’s AFG policy and the increased security implications for various nations.
In view of the above report by the UN and statement by the US President prove that despite the Taliban ignoring all the human rights and women’s rights in Afghanistan but still UN and US are trying to whiten the Taliban regime.