Taliban targeting Afghan women, UN report finds

Figures show a 20% rise in the number of women killed by insurgents The Taliban is increasingly targeting women and girls, the United Nations said today, despite the number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan falling for the first time in six years. The findings from the UN’s annual report on the protection of ­civilians in armed conflict, show that 2,754 Afghan civilians were killed in insurgent attacks last year, a decrease of 12 percent compared with 2011.
"The decrease in civilian casualties [the UN] documented in 2012 is very much welcome. Yet the human cost of the conflict remains unacceptable," said Jan Kubis, the UN envoy to Afghanistan.
The overall decline was apparently down to one of worst winters on record impeding fighting as well as fewer suicide bomb attacks.
However, the report also found a 20 percent increase in the number of women and girls killed or injured. According to the UN, deliberate targeting by the Taliban and other insurgents also tripled last year, with most being hit while in their homes or working in fields.
"I think there is a sense that our own forces are doing more work. It seems Afghan forces are far more willing to sacrifice themselves for their own country against insurgents, which is important – that's something you cannot really expect from foreign forces," Farzad Samandari, a 20-year-old student from Kabul told British newspaper The Guardian.
According to the publication, a spokesman for the Taliban dismissed the report, calling it "a vehicle of propaganda against" the group.
"We don't accept this report, this is a biased report. You cannot find a single operation by the Taliban in which civilians have been killed. We are raising a Jihad for the sake and for the freedom of the Afghan people,” said Zabiullah Mujahed.