Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Civilians

Civilians

Provincial Governor's Office, Paktia Province. Photo: Pajhwok

The ANSF’s Zurmat Operation: Abuses against local civilians

Fazl Rahman Muzhary •

In early January 2016, an Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) operation in Zurmat, a southern district of Paktia province, resulted in civilian casualties. According to local residents, the Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers’ heavy shelling of villages they suspected to be Taleban hideouts caused the most harm. Abuses, such as beatings and the use of […]

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Killing of Americans at Kabul hospital highlights foreigners’ risk

AAN •

Los Angeles Times, 25 April 2014 In another article about the killing of three medical staff of a NGO-run hospital in Kabul, AAN's Kate Clark is quoted with an explanation: "They [foreign civilians] can be seen as the soft underbelly of the intervention, an easy way to hit Western governments rather than trying to fight […]

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Another Post-2014 Capability Gap: Spin and reality of the Afghan air force’s readiness

Gary Owen •

The Afghan air force (AAF) is of critical importance to the success of the Afghan National Security Forces, given the terrain and the continuing threat of roadside bombs. ISAF has been praising the ‘professional Afghan airmanship’ of late. But how accurate is this assessment? What is the Afghan air force’s real ability to provide for […]

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Fewer Deaths, But…: UNAMA’s 2012 Civilian Casualties Report (amended)

Kate Clark •

‘Civilian deaths in Afghan Conflict fall for the first time in six years’ was the good news top line of the new 2012 report by UNAMA on the protection of civilians. Fewer civilians were killed in suicide attacks, ground engagements and aerial attacks, said UNAMA. The Taleban remain responsible for bulk of civilian deaths, while […]

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The Civilian Casualty Tightrope: Karzai Bans ANSF Calling in ‘Foreign’ Airstrikes on Villages

Gary Owen •

In a blistering speech on 16 February 2013, President Hamed Karzai called requests to foreigners by Afghan security forces for airstrikes on Afghan villages ‘shameful’.(1) His office said that tomorrow, he will issue a decree formally banning requests for strikes on what is being described in the English press as ‘residential areas’. The president’s move […]

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Civilian Casualties 2: Taleban claims to protect civilians laid bare

Kate Clark •

Accusations against the Taleban are becoming more pointed: their indiscriminate use of IEDs is a war crime, said UNAMA in its most recent mid-year report on civilian casualties, as well as violating a ban on land-mines made by Mulla Omar in 1998. The Taleban continues to insist its hands are clean, but, as AAN Senior […]

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