UN says U.S. drone strikes number up 72% in Afghanistan

PanARMENIAN.Net - The number of U.S. drone strikes in Afghanistan jumped 72 percent in 2012, killing at least 16 civilians in a sharp increase from the previous year, the UN said Tuesday, Feb 19, in a sign of the changing mission as international forces prepare to withdraw combat forces in less than two years, The Associated Press reports.

The U.S. and NATO have long pledged to keep up the fight against al Qaeda and other militants even as they draw down forces. And drones are expected to take on a greater role as the Americans focus more on special forces operations.

Overall, the full-year toll of civilian deaths in 2012 declined compared to the previous year, according to an annual UN report. But the toll spiked in the second half of the year, compared to the same period a year earlier.

Conflict-related violence also struck more women and girls last year, with 301 killed and 563 wounded — a 20 percent increase from 2011, the report said.

The UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said 506 weapons were released by drones last year, compared with 294 in 2011. Five incidents resulted in casualties last year, with 16 civilians killed and three wounded, up from just one incident in 2011.

Even as drone attacks increased, the UN reported an overall decrease in civilian deaths by airstrikes with the U.S.-led coalition implementing stricter measures to prevent innocent people from being killed.

The UN said most of the civilian casualties from drone strikes appear to be the result of weapons aimed directly at insurgents but some may have been targeting errors.

It called for a review of tactical and operational policy on targeting to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law "with the expansion of the use of unmanned combat aerial vehicles" in Afghanistan. Drones are highly effective but have strained relations between the U.S. and Pakistan as well as other nations where the strikes are carried out because civilians are sometimes killed alongside targeted terrorists.

UNAMA said civilian casualties rose 13 percent to 4,431 in the second half of the year, including more from roadside bombs placed in public areas, compared with the same period in 2011.

That included 1,599 people killed and 2,832 wounded from July 1 to Dec. 31, a jump from 1,556 and 2,832 respectively in the same period the previous year.

It cited a growing number in civilian casualties from roadside bombs even as fewer bystanders were hurt in ground engagements in the troubled south and east of the country.

Overall, it documented 2,754 civilians killed in 2012, a 12 percent decrease from 3,131 in the same period a year earlier.

The Taliban and other insurgents were responsible for 81 percent of the civilian casualties last year, the UN said. The report said so-called anti-government elements killed 2,179 civilians and wounded 3,952, a 9 percent increase in casualties from 2011. Of those, 698 were killed in targeted attacks, often against government employees. That was up from 512 in 2011.