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US military says it mistakenly killed 20 Afghan civilians last year
The US military says air and ground operations it conducted in Afghanistan last year unintentionally killed 20 civilians.
According to an annual report on civilian casualties submitted to Congress, the US Department of Defense (DoD) “assesses that there were approximately 23 civilians killed and approximately 10 civilians injured during 2020 as a result of US military operations.”
The Pentagon said in addition to the 20 deaths in Afghanistan, five people were injured in the country. The deaths and injuries took place in seven air and ground operations in January and February, the report said.
The number of civilians killed last year is far lower than in previous years.
In 2017, by contrast, the US military said it had killed nearly 500 civilians.
According to the report, although Congress allocates $3 million annually for financial compensation to the families of victims, no compensation has been paid to the victims killed and injured in 2020.
However, the number of victims that the Pentagon took responsibility for in its report is far below figures compiled by NGOs about civilian death tolls in areas where the US military is active, RFE/RL reported.
The monitoring group Airwars, which tracks civilian victims of air strikes, cited the United Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), and said it counted 89 deaths and 31 people wounded in operations by US-led coalition forces.
Officials from the Kandahar Chamber of Commerce and Investment say that 294,000 tons of fresh and dried fruit have been exported from the province to foreign countries over the past year.
According to them, the total value of these exports amounts to $519 million.
Abdulbaqi Bina, Deputy Head of the Kandahar Chamber of Commerce and Investment, says the products were exported to India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Canada and several other countries.
Meanwhile, fresh and dried fruit traders are calling on the government to provide alternative transit routes, new markets, and greater facilitation for obtaining visas and transportation for the export of these products.
This comes as nearly 59,000 tons of fresh and dried fruit were exported from Kandahar to foreign countries
The case of 87 Afghan students seeking extensions of their study visas has reached the Islamabad High Court, with the students also asking for protection from arrest, detention and deportation, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported.
According to Pakistani journalist Tahir Khan, the students have petitioned the court to order the government to extend their visas and prevent law-enforcement agencies from harassing, arresting, detaining or deporting them solely because their previous study visas have expired.
During Friday’s hearing, lawyer Aimal Khan Mandokhel told the court that Pakistan’s Interior Ministry had issued study visas to the Afghan students about a year ago. However, the students say authorities have since stopped extending existing visas and issuing new ones.
The Afghan Students Union at the International Islamic University Islamabad has also said Pakistani authorities have suspended study visa extensions for Afghan students for an extended period. It added that several students have allegedly been arrested and deported in recent months.
The hearing was adjourned following an exchange between Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and lawyer Aimal Khan Mandokhel.
The case is expected to be heard again later this month.
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Wali Khan urges Pakistan to resolve tensions with Afghanistan through diplomacy
Wali Khan called on Islamabad to pursue a serious diplomatic approach to de-escalate tensions with Afghanistan and other neighboring countries.
Aimal Wali Khan, the President of Awami National Party (ANP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has urged the Pakistani government to address tensions with neighboring countries, particularly Afghanistan, through serious diplomatic engagement.
Speaking to reporters in Islamabad on Thursday, Wali Khan said the ongoing tensions are causing the greatest harm to ordinary people, especially those in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
“War is not a permanent solution to any problem,” he stressed.
Wali Khan called on Islamabad to pursue a serious diplomatic approach to de-escalate tensions with Afghanistan and other neighboring countries.
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