Protect the Afghan people and give them hope for a better future,” she said. Lyons called on Taliban and Afghan leaders to intensify their efforts at the negotiating table: “Stop the Afghan against Afghan fighting. The US-NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan is more than 95 per cent complete and is due to finish by 31 August. UNAMA warned that without a significant de-escalation in violence, Afghanistan will likely witness the highest ever number of documented civilian casualties in a single year since it began keeping records in 2009.
Much of the fighting during the months of May and June took place outside cities, in areas with comparatively low population levels. Lyons added in a statement accompanying the report. “ The report provides a clear warning that unprecedented numbers of Afghan civilians will perish and be maimed this year if the increasing violence is not stemmed,” Ms. “I implore the Taliban and Afghan leaders to take heed of the conflict’s grim and chilling trajectory and its devastating impact on civilians,” said Deborah Lyons, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan. Fourteen per cent of civilian casualties were women, with 219 killed and 508 wounded. 32 per cent were children, with 468 killed and 1,214 wounded. Women and children made up close to half of all these civilian casualties at 46 per cent, according to the report. UNAMA said it was particularly concerned about the acute rise in the number of civilian casualties in the period from 1 May, with almost as many recorded in the May-June period as in the entire preceding four months. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan ( UNAMA) reported in its Afghanistan Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict midyear update, that there were 1,659 civilians killed and 3,254 wounded a 47 per cent increase compared with the same period last year.
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