The number of civilians killed and wounded in violence across war-weary Afghanistan fell by 15 percent last year compared to 2019, according to a United Nations report released Tuesday. Still, Afghanistan remains among the deadliest places in the world to be a civilian. A distressing feature of the conflict remains the disproportionate impact on Afghan women and children, who make up 43 percent of all casualties. The overall number of civilian casualties in 2020 of 8,820 — including 3,035 killed and 5,785 others wounded — fell below 10,000 for the first time since 2013. Afghanistan has seen a nationwide spike in bombings, targeted killings and violence on the battlefield as peace negotiations in Qatar between the Taliban and the Afghan government have stalled.

Source: The Standard February 23, 2021 09:30 UTC