You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Afghanistan
Nearly 7,400 Afghan Civilians Killed, Wounded Last Year: MoI
2020-01-04
[ToloNews] Nearly 7,400 Afghan non-combatants were killed and maimed as a result of suicide kabooms and explosions last year, the Afghan Ministry of Interior (MoI) said on Friday.

The MoI released a report saying 2,219 non-combatants were killed another 5,170 were maimed in 2019.

The Interior Ministry in the report blamed the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
for the fatalities; however, two days ago the Taliban said that the Afghan government forces and their foreign counterparts were responsible for the casualties.

According to the report, August, September and October 2019 were the most deadly months for the Afghan civilians during last year.

"The majority of the casualties occurred as a result of terrorist attacks and roadside mine explosions (IEDs)," said Nusrat Rahimi, a front man for the Ministry of Interior.

But the Taliban said that 94 percent of the casualties were carried out by the Afghan cops and their foreign colleagues.

"They must work on the grinding of the peace processor so that we can have a nationwide ceasefire in place in Afghanistan and reduce the number of casualties among the civilians," said Sayed Hassan Paktiawal, a member of the Afghan parliament.

"The warring sides of the conflict have been responsible for the casualties, but, overall, there is a reduction in civilian casualties from the government side," said Shukrullah Mashkoor, a front man for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC).

"They must try to reach to some sort of conclusion with this group (Taliban) to decrease the toll on civilians," said Ramish, a resident in Kabul.

"Casualties are increasing day by day, the ministry of interior is responsible to prevent casualties," said Tamim, a resident in Kabul.

the United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a an earlier report said that over 8,000 Afghan non-combatants were killed and maimed in the first three quarters of 2019.
Posted by:trailing wife

#7  If I read history correctly, most wars don't have clean resolutions like WWII. Generally nobody wins overwhelmingly, and another war starts up a generation or two later. Last time I checked, the USA not only isn't omnipotent, our military and civilian leaders tend to take their eyes off the ball a lot.

Afghanistan was never a good candidate for nation-building. It was going to be an "exterminate them all" or a "go back and do it all again 30 years later." I'm not going for option A. That leaves option B: my grandson may have to go to war there one day. I'm not looking forward to that, but that's life in a fallen world.
Posted by: James   2020-01-04 13:20  

#6  Iran is the major threat. Pakistan is a major nuisance. Afghanistan is not our concern.
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-04 09:56  

#5  I partly agree with Herb Macro. The entire war was not founded on lies, but a lot of lying has gone on - it's what politicians do to improve/defend their position, and top military officers are also politicians. And indeed, all of Afghanistan isn't worth a single American soldier's life. But destroying threats to Americans is why soldiers exist, and some of those threats are in A'stan - gotta get 'em where you can.
Posted by: Glenmore   2020-01-04 09:32  

#4  There was a big hole in NYC that sort of physically contradicted your charge of 'lies' Herb. The perps and the people who protected them were based in Afghanistan. The lie was 'nation building' instead of the classic search and destroy mission which should have included the Taliban's own sponsors in Pakistan.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2020-01-04 07:15  

#3  He's in a Macro, G. Cue the herb handwringing
Posted by: Frank G   2020-01-04 04:43  

#2  Not even poppy growers, Herb?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2020-01-04 03:24  

#1  The entire war is founded on lies. The US government and military (cry) have been lying about this war for 18 years now. Time to get out. Stop the killing of *everyone*. Goat herder or not.

All of Afghanistan isn't worth a single American soldier's life.
Posted by: Herb McCoy   2020-01-04 02:42  

00:00