KABUL: A US government watchdog has revealed that violent attacks inAfghanistan’s war hit record levels in the last quarter of 2019, as thebody underscored the conflict’s continued toll despite a relative calm inthe country’s capital.
The nation’s capital and other urban areas have enjoyed a rare stretch ofmore than two months without the sorts of large-scale bomb attack thatfrequently rock the city and cause mass causalities.
Despite the lull, which has come as the US and the Taliban continue talksover a possible deal for American forces to leave Afghanistan, fighting inrural provinces has continued unabated, with reports of skirmishesappearing daily.
According to the US Special Inspector General for AfghanistanReconstruction (SIGAR), “enemy-initiated attacks” rose sharply last year,with the fourth quarter seeing a total of 8,204 attacks — up from 6,974 inthe same period in 2018.
September, when the first round of presidential voting was held, saw thehighest number of casualty-causing attacks since recording began in 2010.
SIGAR noted that attacks appeared to mirror progress in US-Taliban talks,with incidents dropping earlier in the year, then picking up again after USPresident Donald Trump temporarily halted negotiations in September.
“A turbulent last six months resulted in increases in overall enemy attacks(6 per cent) and effective attacks (4 per cent) in 2019 compared to thealready high levels reported in 2018,” SIGAR said in its quarterly reportto the US Congress.
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The Pentagon has also continued to up the tempo of operations, withAmerican warplanes dropping more bombs on Afghanistan in 2019 than at anyother time in at least a decade, according to the US Air Force.
Washington and the Taliban are continuing to wrangle over a possibleagreement that would see US troops begin to leave Afghanistan in return forsecurity guarantees.
The US has for months been calling on the militants to reduce violence, butboth sides have said little in recent days about the status of talks andthe Kabul government wants the US to push for a full ceasefire.
SIGAR’s report also found that Afghanistan’s security forces struggled totake the fight to the Taliban, relying on US support for more than halftheir ground operations.
SIGAR also highlighted a slight increase in the number of casualties amongAfghan military members, who have sustained massive losses over the pastfive years. -APP/AFP
