In the southern Helmand province of Kabul, Afghanistan, dozens of civilians have been reported killed during a raid on Taliban hideouts by U.S. and Afghan special forces on Sunday night. There are conflicting accounts on how many casualties there were and if they were civilians.
The Deputy Provincial Councilman of Helmand reported that women and children who had been attending a wedding ceremony in the Musa Qala district made up most of the fatalities, and all the deaths from the raid were civilian. The Provincial Governor’s spokesman told Al Jazeera that 14 Taliban fighters were also killed during the raid. Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry produced a statement that 22 foreign members were killed and 14 arrested, including five Pakistani nationals and one Bangladeshi. The U.S. military, in a statement issued on Monday, backs the Afghan report, and also says that most of the casualties that occurred were because of “Al Qaeda weapons” like suicide vests and explosives. Reports by witnesses have been difficult to come by as the area were the fighting occurred is controlled by the Taliban.
The report is one of the many recent instances where civilian fatalities have been blamed on U.S. and Afghan forces as they intensify their fight against the Taliban and its partners. What happened on Sunday came just days after the U.S. claimed responsibility for the drone attack that killed at least 30 farmers in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province earlier this month. Afghan forces have also been criticized for civilian casualties in night-time raids; according to an United Nations report in April, in the first three months of this year, Afghanistan and its allies had killed more civilians than the Taliban.
Whether the large number of civilian deaths stem from miscalculations or indifference, these instances have made civilians feel like they live in increasingly dangerous circumstances, stuck between the two feuding groups. A local Afghani told CBS, “The locals are trapped in a war between the Taliban and the U.S. and Afghan forces. We told the Taliban, ‘don’t settle foreign militants near our houses,’ we told the Afghan government, ‘don’t target us if militants live in the middle of our houses, that it is not our wish or our fault. We can’t stop anyone. Don’t kill us.’”
The recent events are unfortunate, especially when considering how close the two groups had come to making peace. The United States and the Taliban have been engaged in peace talks since last October. The peace talks have focused on four key issues: a guarantee by the Taliban that it will not let Afghanistan be a base for foreign armed groups and fighters to conduct attacks outside the country; the complete withdrawal of NATO and U.S forces from Afghanistan; a permanent ceasefire; and the development of a dialogue between Afghanistan and the Taliban. According to Al Jazeera, there are about 14,000 US troops and 17,000 troops from NATO allies that are in Afghanistan with non-combative roles, and their presence has been the sticking point between the two sides. Peace, however, proved out of reach for the Afghani citizens.
Following the death of a U.S. service member by a suicide attack in Kabul, President Donald Trump called off the peace negotiations. In a tweet, he asked, “What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position?”
What seemed so close – peace in Afghanistan – has now seemingly slipped away. Can peace still occur? Yes, if both groups make a diligent effort to bring it about and halt any violent attacks against each other. Violence should not bequeath more violence. Instead, the peace negotiations should resume, and this time, Afghan leaders should also be allowed at the table. Civilian deaths should not be considered an inevitable consequence of the conflict, but instead a reason to prioritize negotiations even more.
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