Afghanistan 13-year war: heavy casualties and inaccurate figures

It has been 13 years since United States and NATO waged war in Afghanistan. 13 years ago on September 11 Al-Qaeda targeted New York and Washington on their bloody attacks and a month later on October 7, 2001 US approved the order to launch war on Afghanistan.

However US and NATO soldiers witnessed heavy fatalities but the main sacrifice of this war were Afghans, who were targeted by the conspiracy of America under different names and titles.

The casualties of this war are so high; but the exact number of deaths from involved parties and civilians is not clear.  The reason of lack of exact and trustable counts and tolls of casualties has several reasons; the organizations who publish reports about war causalities like United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) or Afghanistan Human Rights Independent Commission (AHRIC), or other global organizations like Amnesty International (AI) are all in a part and are being used as tools for controlling the public.

Besides Afghan government is involved in widespread corruption; and doesn’t have the capacity, capability and standard of conducting surveys. The international non-governmental organizations who present the numbers are influenced by US and are also being financially supported by them. The Afghan organizations who work in the same field and claim of impartiality are not trustable and use the publishing of reports as a tool for propaganda.

In this war not only the involved parties (foreign and Afghan forces and armed opposition) have faced high fatalities but all the parties brutally caused the large numbers of civilian deaths. Civilians are killed and wounded by roadside bombs, bombardments and night raids, are being used as shield or being beheaded without any kind of courts and unfortunately this disaster continues to date.

In the last few months the causalities of involved parties in war and the civilians become high and the especially the incidents which have high number of causalities seems to be a conspiracy.

 

Attacks of foreign troops

Since 2001 when international troops invaded Afghanistan, in different military operation, bombardments and night raids large number of civilians have lost their lives, wounded or affected. Marriage ceremonies came under attack, civilians in night raids and other military operations were targeted, drones or wrong intelligence information affected civilians or jailed in secret jails.

Though most of the American Generals insist the use of Drones against Al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups operating inside Afghanistan and across Durand line but it has resulted in huge collateral damage. Hundreds of innocent civilians have been killed and injured. It has also won wide range of criticism from the international human rights organizations and social activists which strongly oppose the use of Drone against insurgents in fight against terrorism. Since the last few years after consistent criticism by President Hamid Karzai against the use of drones there has been reduction in the civilian casualties. But recent attacks show that civilian casualties again maximized due to excessive use of drone attacks.

Couple of weeks ago in Nuristan province, 41 innocent civilians got killed a fresh row of Drone attacks. It was reported by the locals that the people who got killed were the resident of that area who were busy in cultivating their corps. In the initial stage the Nuristan administration reported that the people who were killed were foreigners and insider insurgents but after proper investigation they confessed it formally that innocent civilians were the prime target of the drone attack.

A wide range of hatred and animosity can be found in the lines of Afghan National Army due to these pitiless attacks of the drones which results in killing of tens of innocent civilians each time it is carried out. A large number of “Green on Blue” attacks are carried out by the Afghan Army soldiers against the foreign troops and one of the latest attackers was a woman member of ANA which killed an American General, the highest ranked member of US army killed in Afghanistan since its invasion.

Four people got killed including women and children in the Shindand district of Herat Province. The coffins of the victims were brought in front of the governor office in a large protest and in a result in ANA member killing of the American General at Qargha, Kabul.

Similarly couple of weeks ago in another fresh drone attack four people got killed and three other were injured severely in Puli Alam, Logar and in another attack in Khakrez district of Kandahar, three innocent civilians lost their lives and many got injured.

The foreign troops either refused to confess the civilian casualties or say it has been carried out mistakenly or issue an apology as the ISAF general in the southern Afghanistan issued an apology due to the incident of Shindand, Herat province which never works out.  It is crystal clear that if the foreign troops avoid civilian casualties it is possible to minimize the collateral damage.

Most of the analysts consider that such operations are carried out deliberately by foreign troops. Some other analysts are of the opinion that killing innocent civilians intentionally is being done for a reason and that is to provoke anti-government feelings against the Afghan government and is trying to increase the gap between people and the government. According to the foreign troops the insurgent carry out attack as a group and then when the ANA ask for an air support to defeat the insurgents they never provide them with air support. According to the analysts the foreign troops carry out operation without the proper consultation of Afghan government.

Most of the Afghan are of the belief that illegal raids, killing and torture are the reasons that have let the Taliban to win more support in the public.

In the last couple of years there has been a growing difference between the government and the NATO and ISAF forces and its prime reason is civilian casualties. These attacks are also being used as a pressure tactic by the foreign troops in order to prolong the war and reach their objectives.

 

Afghan Army and the establishment of Local Police

United States and its allies established the formation of Afghan Local Police (ALP) in different parts of Afghanistan just like in Iraq which paved way for sectarian clashes and rift among the tribes. These local police have been made up of the most notorious people that letting creation of huge hatred and instability in the region.

The local police formation was questioned by civil society members and social activists from the very beginning and in recent days parliament members from Faryab province have voiced concerns that the reason of an increased instability in the province is ALP’s violent actions. ALP members are not professionally trained and at the same time uneducated, thugs had been included which has increased in the suffering of public.

Also it is worth mentioning that some of the incumbents in Afghan Army are biased and fanatics and the they behave discriminately with local people in the area they control, this is not only limited to rural areas but also present in main cities of Afghanistan.

 

The armed opposition and their mysterious attacks

Since the war has been begun the armed opposition has suffered severe fatalities. While very large number of innocent civilians lost their lives in bomb blasts orchestrated on roads by armed opposition members in order to target foreign troops.

On the other hand some very highly sophisticated attacks and bomb explosions have been carried out under the name of Taliban, which they themselves condemned and distanced themselves from, resulted in killing of hundreds of innocent Afghans and likewise is the recent attack in a market in Orgun district of Paktika province on July 15.

According to the political analysts foreign intelligence agencies are behind such attacks who have their own interest in the continuation of war but the public opinion has been only kept engaged with Taliban name. Western intelligence agencies carry out attacks under the umbrella of Black Water and pursue their own goals and objectives. Most of the incidents make it clear that western intelligence agencies do have their own armed groups and proxies on the ground using them for expanding their own interests.

Thus Afghans are victims of these well-planned attacks since the past 13 years which are carried out by foreign intelligence in order to pursue their own diabolic plans and goals. The western and local media report these incidents in the way they want often far from the reality.