Afghanistan's civilian death toll increased 42 percent year-on-year in the third quarter. This is the result of a report by the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (Unama). It was the highest number of civilian casualties since the Uno's systematic recording in 2009, which saw nearly 1,200 people killed and more than 3,100 injured.
The strong increase between 1 July and 30 September is mainly due to more victims by the militant Islamist Taliban. The increase coincided with the ongoing US talks with the Taliban over a political settlement of the longstanding conflict.
According to experts, all conflict sides wanted to build pressure on the negotiating table through military successes. At the beginning of September, US President Donald Trump surprisingly canceled the talks shortly before a colluded settlement.
41 percent of the victims are women and children, according to the UN report
Before that, in the first six months of 2019, the number of civilian casualties by the Taliban and the Islamic State terrorist militia (IS) had declined, but civilian casualties had increased as a result of airstrikes or searches by government forces and their US allies.
From January to September, more than 40 percent of civilian casualties were killed or injured by explosive devices, mostly bombs detonated in suicide bombing or hiding on the roadside. Around one third of the victims were killed or injured in crossfire ground battles. Two out of five victims are women and children.