By Fahim Abed and Mujib Mashal
From The New York Times | Original Article
At least 24 civilians were killed in airstrikes in Afghanistan since Sept. 22.CreditCreditOmar Sobhani/Reuters
KABUL, Afghanistan — The number of civilians killed by Afghan and American airstrikes is rising, the United Nations said Tuesday, as the Afghan government increasingly relies on airpower in its fight against a resurgent Taliban.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said 21 civilians were killed in two airstrikes last weekend and urged all parties to the conflict to take stronger measures to protect civilians.
After the release of the United Nations statement, an airstrike on Tuesday in the Chardara district of Kunduz Province killed three more people, a 45-year-old woman and two teenage girls, according to Sher Mohammed, the husband of the woman who died.
On Wednesday, angry residents carried the bodies of two of the victims to the city of Kunduz, the provincial capital, and chanted slogans against the government and American forces.
“They martyred three women. My son, who is a university student in economics faculty, and my daughter, Atifa, are wounded — they are in a serious condition in hospital currently,” said Mr. Mohammed, a teacher in the village school. “They destroyed my life.”
Its ground forces stretched as they fight insurgents in about two dozen of the country’s 34 provinces, the Afghan government relies heavily on airstrikes to push back against Taliban gains. Although American forces conduct most of the strikes, the Afghan Air Force is increasingly involved, carrying out as many as two dozen strikes a day in recent weeks.
The increase in the use of Afghan airpower has brought more claims of civilian casualties. In April, Afghan military helicopters bombed a Kunduz Province mosque, killing at least 70 people and wounding 30 others, according to a local official.
In the first six months of the year, the United Nations mission said on Tuesday, airstrikes killed 149 people and injured 204, a 52 percent increase from the same period last year.
“It is of particular concern that women and children made up more than half of all aerial-attack civilian casualties,” the mission said.
The deadliest of the recent incidents took place on Sunday in Wardak Province, just south of Kabul, killing 12 people from the same family, according to a separate United Nations statement on Tuesday. Local residents and tribal elders said 14 people had been killed. The attack happened in the Jaghato district, and 10 of the victims were children between the ages of 6 and 15, the United Nations said.
On Saturday, another attack in the Tagab district of Kapisa Province killed at least nine members of the same family and wounded six others, according to the United Nations and a resident named Kefayatullah, whose sister’s house was bombed. The area is controlled by the Taliban, according to Kefayatullah, who, like most Afghans, goes by one name.
Smoke rises from an airstrike against Islamic State militants in July.CreditWakil Kohsar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Fatima Faizi contributed reporting from Kabul, and Najim Rahim from Mazar-i-Sharif.