UN: Women, children casualties on the rise in Afghanistan

The U.N. says in a new report that more women and children were killed and wounded in Afghanistan in the first half of 2021 than in any year since the United Nations began keeping count in 2009

KABUL, Afghanistan -- More women and children were killed and wounded in Afghanistan in the first half of 2021 than in the first six months of any year since the United Nations began systematically keeping count in 2009, a U.N. report said Monday. The war-torn country saw a 47% increase in the number of all civilians killed and wounded in violence across Afghanistan in the first six months of the year, compared to the same period last year, according to the report. “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 U.N. secretary-general’s special representative for Afghanistan. "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,” Lyons added in a statement accompanying the report.