Most civilian fatalities have been linked to an ISIS-affiliated group
Nearly 400 civilians have died in attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban retook control of the country in 2021, according to the United Nations (UN), with more than 80% of fatalities linked to an ISIS-affiliated group.
The first major human rights assessment of the situation since the Taliban seized Kabul from the US-backed government in August last year reflects the challenge the militant group has in stabilizing the region amid numerous competing forces.
Covering the period from August 2021 to the end of February, the UN found 1,153 casualties and 397 civilian deaths from attacks conducted mostly by the Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) group. Over the same period, more than 50 people with suspected ties to the extremist group have been killed.
“The human rights situation for many Afghans is of profound concern,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said, as she outlined the international body’s findings.
ISIS-K was first identified in the eastern part of Afghanistan in late 2014 and is believed to have spread across the country following the disorder caused by the Taliban’s rapid retaking of the country, with several suicide bombings taking place in recent months.
Alongside the civilian casualties, the senior UN representative claimed that the Taliban was limiting the rights and freedoms of certain groups in the country, with women and girls’ lives particularly restricted by the militant group’s regime.
The report comes ahead of a move by the International Human Rights Council to appoint a special rapporteur on Afghanistan to investigate allegations of violations by the Taliban. US Human Rights Ambassador Michele Taylor has called the appointment of a special rapporteur an “important mechanism for documenting abuses.”
Mariia Shostak, a 25-year-old woman living in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, started having contractions on 24 February, the day the Russian Federation launched a military offensive in Ukraine, and gave birth amid the sounds of air raid sirens.
Washington says supplying the Ukrainian war effort could get difficult
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman has revealed it may become more difficult in the coming days to ship weapons to Ukraine for help in its conflict with Russia.
Speaking to reporters in Madrid on Monday, Sherman praised the “international community” for being “tremendously responsive” and resourceful in finding ways to deliver weapons, ammunition, and finances to Ukraine. However, such shipments “may become harder [to make] in the coming days and we will have to find other ways to manage this,” she warned.
“It is critical that what we send in is what [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky asks for, because he knows what his military needs most,” Sherman explained.
While Sherman declined to elaborate upon what issues might threaten the continued ease of shipments, the Biden administration is currently pondering how to appease Zelensky’s demand for warplanes his military can fly, given that Ukrainian pilots would only be able to operate Polish planes from the Soviet era.
“People are trying to see whether this is possible and doable,” Sherman explained, stressing that she did not want Moscow to view the supply of such planes as becoming directly involved in the war. Sending over such planes would, she argued, be seen “as all the deliveries have been seen as a right for Ukraine to defend itself.”
Zelensky has also demanded a no-fly zone backed by NATO, a wish the transatlantic alliance has thus far refused to grant, arguing it would snowball into a “full-fledged war in Europe.” Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed, explaining any countries imposing such a no-fly zone would be considered participants in the war. Zelensky nevertheless denounced the decision as “weak.” Most of his other demands, from suspending commercial transactions via Visa and Mastercard to denouncing Putin as a war criminal, have been taken up by some element of the US political apparatus.
Last month, the US authorized the shipment of $350 million in military aid to Ukraine, while the House of Representatives is currently trying to pass a whopping $10 billion aid package to the country. The EU sent $500 million (€450 million) in weaponry last week in an unprecedented step for the bloc, which has not previously supplied aid to a country at war. Germany, too, reversed its policies on not shipping weapons to conflict zones.
