Nearly 3500 Afghans killed or hurt in first half of 2020: UN

United Nations said on Monday that more than 1280 Afghan civilians were killed in first six months of the year as fighting raged in Afghanistan in spite of a pact between the US and Taliban. 

United Nations said on Monday that more than 1280 Afghan civilians were killed in first six months of the year as fighting raged in Afghanistan in spite of a pact between the US and Taliban. A) said in a report.

“The reality remains that Afghanistan continues to be one of the deadliest conflicts in the world for civilians,” it said in the mid-year report.

In spite of a drop of 13 per cent in casualties from the corresponding period of the last year, the UN said that Taliban continued to cause majority of civilian casualties. The Taliban were responsible for 43 per cent of civilian casualties and government forces caused 23 per cent.

In February, the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement in Doha, laying out plans for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan in exchange for security guarantees from the militants.

However, fighting has spiked in recent weeks, prompted by differences over an exchange of prisoners between the Taliban and Afghan government, as Kabul proved reluctant to free hundreds of jailed militants.

The Doha deal provided for the government to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for hundreds of Afghan troops, the main plank in starting peace negotiations between the two sides in the effort to end the 18-year-old war.

While the Afghan government has released more than 4,000 Taliban prisoners, it has refused to release another 600, saying they were involved in murder, illicit drug trafficking and major attacks.