Nearly 500 Afghan civilians have been killed in Pakistan-Afghanistan fighting since Oct: UN

LAHORE, Pakistan, July 28, (AP): Cross-border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan has killed nearly 500 civilians in Afghanistan and wounded over 1,000 others between October and the end of June, the United Nations said Tuesday.

In a report on the human rights situation, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said it had documented 499 civilians killed and 1,216 wounded by the fighting between the neighbors that has defied international peace efforts. In one case, the report said, civilians trying to rescue others from the rubble of an airstrike were hit by a second one.

The report also explores other human rights issues, including a deadly crackdown on protests in western Afghanistan over restrictions on women’s clothing, and decrees that essentially legalize child marriage. Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fighting on and off for months.

Tension escalated significantly in February, when Afghan forces launched a raid into Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan, and Islamabad declared it was in " open war.”

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants who carry out deadly attacks that have killed thousands over the years in Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan.

The group is allied with the Afghan Taleban, which has ruled Afghanistan since it seized power in 2021 amid the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops. Kabul denies the allegation.

In the deadliest attack of the fighting, a Pakistani airstrike hit a drug treatment center in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in March, killing hundreds of civilians. Rights group Amnesty International said last week the bombing should be investigated as a possible war crime.

Pakistan has not given an overall figure for civilian casualties caused by the cross-border fighting in its territory. The UN mission, known by its acronym UNAMA, noted it is only mandated to monitor incidents in Afghanistan.

In a written response to UNAMA’s report, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Afghanistan’s Taliban government "continues to maintain a permissive environment for a range of (militant) organizations.”

The response did not mention Afghan civilian casualties but said Pakistan’s military strikes "were directed exclusively at identified terrorist hideouts, sanctuaries, and support infrastructure linked to groups responsible for attacks inside Pakistan.”

The hundreds of civilian casualties listed by UNAMA include 22 - five of them children - who were killed in two successive airstrikes on a residential building in the eastern province of Paktia on June 28.

At least 185 others were wounded. Most of the deaths and injuries were caused by the second strike, when locals were trying to rescue the victims of the first one. "International humanitarian law provides special protections for medical personnel and humanitarian workers, including first responders.