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Afghanistan's Capital More Dangerous Than Helmand Province, U.N. Says

DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC. 10:35 AM ET 7/17/2017

KABUL -- Afghanistan's capital is the country's most dangerous place, according to a United Nations midyear report on civilian casualties that showed deaths and injuries in the war-ravaged country remained near record levels documented last year.

A rise in large-scale militant attacks in Kabul have had a profoundly destabilizing effect on the capital, where some roads are still locked down and some embassies have scaled back to skeleton staff after a massive truck bomb struck near the diplomatic enclave in May.

The U.N. Assistance Mission to Afghanistan documented 5,243 civilian casualties across the country, including 1,662 dead and 3,581 wounded over the period, a decrease of less than 1% from last year, the report released Monday said. This included a 2% rise in civilian deaths and a 1% decline in injuries.

The trend reflects the growing influence of the Taliban insurgency in rural areas, which has provided a bigger foothold and more recruits for it to carry out large-scale attacks targeting workers at rush hour in central Kabul and other major cities.

The U.N. said civilian casualties in Kabul were almost twice as high as in Helmand, which is mostly under Taliban control and has long considered the country's most violent province. There were 1,048 civilian casualties in Kabul province over the period, including 219 deaths and 829 injured, a 26% increase from last year, the U.N. said.

The rising urban toll could fuel concerns over plans by the European Union to deport Afghan migrants back home on the basis that some parts of Afghanistan, including Kabul, were safe enough for them to return. Around 200,000 Afghans arrived on the continent in 2015 in an effort to escape their country's ongoing conflict, according to the EU, and tens of thousands followed last year.

The second-deadliest Afghan locale was Helmand, which is mostly under Taliban control, the report said. The U.S. military has sent more than 300 Marines to Helmand to help Afghan forces keep the provincial capital from falling to the insurgency, amid heavy daily clashes there.

The U.N. report also showed a 23% rise in female casualties this year, including 174 women dead and 462 injured, and a rise in child deaths, which rose 9% to 436.

Also in the first half of 2017, a rise in casualties linked to bombings weighed against a decline in those caused by clashes between government forces and insurgents, the U.N. report said. It attributed the drop to efforts by the army and police to exercise greater caution in using weapons that cause high casualties, including mortars.

The deadliest attack in Kabul since 2001 struck on May 31, as a massive truck bomb exploded just outside Kabul's heavily-fortified diplomatic enclave, killing more than 150 people -- mainly Afghan civilians on their way to work.

It triggered a wave of protests by locals angry about the government's failure to protect them, and more deaths in clashes with security forces, which contributed to frustration with the government beset by internal rivalry and entrenched corruption.

Afghan and security officials from the international military coalition in the country are reviewing new security plans for Kabul. They include a dramatic expansion of the diplomatic enclave, known as the Green Zone, that would reduce the exposure of government and embassy buildings to city roads, a move that would further limit those officials' interaction with the local population.

Write to Jessica Donati at [e-mail]


(END) Dow Jones Newswires
07-17-171035ET
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