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Child Casualties in Afghanistan Hit Highest Record in 2017: UN
The first four months of 2017 witnessed the highest recorded number of child civilian casualties due to the conflict-related incidents in Afghanistan, the United Nations, the world body said, with 283 deaths and 704 injured.
“Between 1 January and 30 April 2017, UNAMA preliminarily recorded 987 child casualties (283 deaths and 704 injured), a 21 percent increase in child deaths compared to the same period in 2016,” said the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
During 2017, child deaths have risen largely as a result of the persistent use of indirect and/or explosive weapons in civilian-populated areas and “due to the use of illegal and indiscriminate improvised explosive devices,”
“Ground fighting caused 118 child deaths between 1 January and 30 April, responsible for 42 percent of the total,” the UN said.
According to UN the explosive remnants of war caused 50 child deaths and aerial operations have been responsible for 44 child deaths as well as improvised explosive devices (IEDs) responsible for 38 child deaths.
UNAMA has urged the parties to the conflict to priorities the protection of children as the 2017 fighting season continues by taking all necessary precautions to reduce harm to civilians during fighting.
“The Taliban and insurgents’ attacks in public areas cause casualties to civilians; therefore, we have instructed our security forces to prevent civilian casualties,” said Acting Spokesman of the Interior Ministry, Najib Danish.
The Human Rights Commission in Afghanistan has also urged the parties to avoid civilian casualties.
“The civilian deaths concerned us and the international community, we urge the parties to the conflict to do not target civilian-populated rural areas,” said the Spokesman of AIHRC, Bilal Sediqi.
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Girls’ education is a ‘vital issue’ for Afghanistan: Karzai
Former president Hamid Karzai said in a meeting with Iran’s ambassador and special representative, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, that education of girls was a “vital issue” for Afghanistan.
Karzai said he appreciated Iran’s cooperation and its standing with the Afghan people, especially Iran’s contributions to education in Afghanistan.
During the meeting, Karzai said peace and stability in the region are in the interest of all regional countries.
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Uzbekistan’s humanitarian aid arrives in Balkh
A shipment of humanitarian aid from Uzbekistan was handed over on Thursday to the local officials of Balkh province in the trade port of Hairatan.
Local authorities said the aid, which includes flour, oil, wheat, sugar and meat, has been handed over by Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya governor to the governor of Balkh.
The governor of Surkhandarya stated the purpose of sending this aid was to support the people of Afghanistan and stressed the need for the development of good relations between the two countries.
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Afghanistan’s problems caused more damage to Pakistan than 3 wars with India: Durrani
Islamabad’s special envoy for Afghanistan Asif Durrani said on Wednesday that Pakistan has suffered more due to Afghanistan’s internal situation than Pakistan has suffered in three wars with India in terms of blood spilt and finances drained.
Durrani said at a one-day International Conference titled “Pakistan in the Emerging Geopolitical Landscape”, which was organized by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), that over 80,000 Pakistanis died in the two decades of the War on Terror and that his country was still counting its dead and injured.
“After the withdrawal of NATO forces, it was hoped that peace in Afghanistan would bring peace to the region. However, such expectations were short-lived,” he said.
He also stated that attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group on Pakistan’s border areas increased by 65 percent, while suicide attacks increased by 500 percent.
“The TTP’s enhanced attacks on Pakistan while using Afghan soil have been a serious concern for Pakistan. Another worrying aspect is the participation of Afghan nationals in these attacks,” he said.
Durrani also said Pakistan had suffered geopolitically since the Soviet Union invaded the neighboring country.
“The post-9/11 world order has negatively impacted Pakistan. Apart from losing 80,000 citizens’ lives, including 8,000 law enforcement agency personnel, the country’s economic opportunity cost is estimated at $150 billion,” Durrani said.
Talking about the future outlook for Pakistan in the regional context, Durrani said that while “our eastern neighbor is likely to continue with its anti-Pakistan pursuits, the western border poses an avoidable irritant in the short to medium term.”
However, he said Pakistan can overcome its difficulties with Afghanistan, including the TTP challenge.
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