Afghanistan's Civilian Toll, Seen from the Ground

According to a new U.N. report, 2008 was the deadliest year in Afghanistan for civilians since the fall of the Taliban. Erica Gaston, a researcher on civilian casualties, spent most of last year on the ground in Afghanistan; the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict today released a report that draws on her field work, including firsthand interviews with 143 survivors of the conflict.

Much of the reporting on the subject has focused on coalition airstrikes; the CIVIC report also details the human cost of Taliban terror tactics and the consequences of "escalation of force" incidents (shootings at checkpoints or traffic control points). It also describes some of the hurdles Afghan civilians face in receiving legitimate compensation from coalition forces. From the report:

While many IMF [international military forces] say they have an 'open door' to civilians, Afghans often found it barricaded by sandbags, razor wire and hostile, heavily-armed soldiers. Many said they are turned away without their grievances heard. As one Afghan staff of an international organization described: 'People don’t even try [to get compensation from the military] because the military are so hard to get to. You cannot get through or you can’t even get to the gate sometimes.' One man, whose brother was shot in ISAF crossfire following a suicide attack on a military convoy, described how he 'went to the airport to see the PRT [provincial reconstruction team] twenty times but nobody was ever available to see me.'

Gaston will present her findings today at the New America Foundation; you can click here to watch the live webcast.

[PHOTO: Guardian.co.uk]

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