Cross-border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan has killed nearly 500 civilians in Afghanistan and wounded over 1,000 others between October and the tip of June, the United Nations said Tuesday.
In a report on the human rights situation, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said it had documented 499 civilians killed and 1,216 wounded by the fighting between the neighbors that has defied international peace efforts.
In a single case, the report said, civilians attempting to rescue others from the rubble of an airstrike were hit by a second one.
The report also explores other human rights issues, including a deadly crackdown on protests in western Afghanistan over restrictions on women’s clothing, and decrees that essentially legalize child marriage.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants
Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fighting on and off for months. Tension escalated significantly in February, when Afghan forces launched a raid into Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan, and Islamabad declared it was in “ open war.”
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants who perform deadly attacks which have killed hundreds over time in Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban, often known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The group is allied with the Afghan Taliban, which has ruled Afghanistan because it seized power in 2021 amid the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. Kabul denies the allegation.
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Within the deadliest attack of the fighting, a Pakistani airstrike hit a drug treatment center within the Afghan capital, Kabul, in March, killing a whole bunch of civilians. Rights group Amnesty International said last week the bombing needs to be investigated as a possible war crime.
Pakistan has not given an overall figure for civilian casualties attributable to the cross-border fighting in its territory. The U.N. mission, known by its acronym UNAMA, noted it is simply mandated to observe incidents in Afghanistan.
Pakistan denies targeting civilians
In a written response to UNAMA’s report, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Afghanistan’s Taliban government “continues to take care of a permissive environment for a variety of (militant) organizations.”
The response didn’t mention Afghan civilian casualties but said Pakistan’s military strikes “were directed exclusively at identified terrorist hideouts, sanctuaries, and support infrastructure linked to groups answerable for attacks inside Pakistan.”
The a whole bunch of civilian casualties listed by UNAMA include 22 — five of them children — who were killed in two successive airstrikes on a residential constructing within the eastern province of Paktia on June 28. A minimum of 185 others were wounded.
A lot of the deaths and injuries were attributable to the second strike, when locals were attempting to rescue the victims of the primary one.
“International humanitarian law provides special protections for medical personnel and humanitarian staff, including first responders. Attacks against them while performing their duties are strictly prohibited,” said Fiona Frazer, director of human rights at UNAMA.
Afghan women still face harsh restrictions
UNAMA’s report also highlighted problems faced by women, who’re subject to draconian restrictions by Afghanistan’s Taliban government. They include a ban on education beyond primary school, a strict dress code, bans on working in nearly all professions and a requirement to be accompanied by a male family member when outside the house.
The report detailed a crackdown within the western city of Herat in June, where at the least 30 women were arrested on allegations of dress code violations. A minimum of one person was killed and a number of other others were injured when authorities opened fire during a rare protest against the detentions.
Rules governing women’s clothing stipulate they will only exit in public when wearing full hijab — which incorporates a headband and robe covering the complete body — in addition to a face covering that leaves only the eyes visible. The regulations are policed by the scary Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.
Nonetheless, interpretations of the principles and what constitutes wearing the hijab accurately vary and could be arbitrarily enforced.
The UNAMA report said Vice and Virtue officials visited health clinics and shops in various parts of the country to advise them to refuse entry to women not accompanied by a male family member.
The report also said latest rules on separation in marriage “implicitly sanction child marriage ” by allowing for marriage contracts to be arranged for minors.
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