‘Violence reduction’ must mean no civilian casualties: Amnesty International

Amnesty International, in a statement, said Friday, the USA and the Afghan Taliban’s negotiations over a reduction in violence must include a commitment by both sides to abide by the laws of war and end all attacks on civilians.

The statement writes as, “In a conflict marked by attacks on civilians, the term ‘violence reduction’ is an absurdity. There can be no acceptable level of violence. The USA and the Afghan Taliban must commit to abide by the laws of war and end all attacks on Afghan civilians.”

Although The Independent Human Rights Commission didn’t comment on the rise or fall of the civilian casualties, it urged the involved laterals to be utmost cautious in their military actions in order to prevent civilian casualties.

“Not only in negotiations, but the leaders should also abide by the international human rights law and pass direct orders on to their military subordinates not to hurt civilians in action,” said Naeem Nazari, the Commissioner of Human Rights Commission for Afghanistan.

To put an end to civilian casualties, the government of Afghanistan also insists on ‘ceasefire’ rather than ‘violence reduction’.

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan remains at the highest level. As per the latest statistics published by the UNAMA, indicates that at least 2,563 civilians were killed and 5,676 others were wounded in the first 9 months of 2019 in Afghanistan.