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AFGHANISTAN-UN-US-TALIBAN-CONFLICT-NARCOTICS
UN probes casualty claims from US strikes in Afghanistan
KABUL, May 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The UN’s Afghanistan mission said Monday
it was probing allegations of civilian casualties resulting from US air
strikes against purported drug-making facilities in western Afghanistan.
The allegations centre on strikes conducted earlier this month in Farah
and Nimroz provinces, where dozens of structures said to have been used to
produce heroin and other illegal drugs were destroyed.
According to interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi, “150 Taliban
terrorists were killed, 40 wounded” in the Farah operations.
But the Taliban have denied the facilities were used for drugs and claimed
“up to 100” civilians were killed.
In a statement, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
(UNAMA) said it was “actively looking into allegations of civilian casualties
resulting from International Military Forces’ aerial operations in Farah and
Nimroz provinces against reported drug manufacturing facilities”.
“The locations are not easily accessible and there are numerous operational
challenges to the verification” of civilians being harmed, UNAMA added.
The US-led NATO mission in Kabul did not immediately respond to a request
for comment.
Last month, UNAMA published a report saying Afghan civilians are for the
first time being killed in greater numbers by US and pro-government forces
than by the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
It also chastised the Taliban for an increase in deadly violence across
Afghanistan during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.
The war-torn nation has seen continued violence since the start of Ramadan
last week as the Taliban and the US were engaged in talks to try to find an
end to the war.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for a May 8 attack on a US-funded aid
group in Kabul that claimed the lives of nine civilians and Afghan security
officials.
“There can be absolutely no justification for deliberate or indiscriminate
attacks against civilians,” Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-General’s
Special Representative for Afghanistan, said in the UNAMA statement.
“It is particularly egregious that a premeditated act of extreme violence
was conducted against a development agency where civilians were striving to
improve the lives of all citizens.”
An earlier attack by the Taliban just before Ramadan saw at least 13
people killed and dozens more wounded after a suicide bomber and several
gunmen attacked a police headquarters in Pul-i-Khumri in northern
Afghanistan.
BSS/AFP/RY/1746 hrs