By RIA Novosti
New York : Over 8,000 people, 1,500 civilians among them, were killed in violence in Afghanistan in 2007, a new UN report has said.
The report, to be discussed by the UN Security Council Wednesday, said in spite of “tactical successes by national and international military forces, the anti-government elements are far from defeated”.
According to the report drafted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, last year’s violence was at the highest level since the US-led invasion of the country against the Taliban in 2001.
Last year saw 160 suicide attacks and 68 assaults were prevented as compared to 123 and 17 respectively in 2006, representing a 30 percent increase in attacks.
Taliban insurgents carried out more terrorist acts with around 566 violent incidents a month in 2007, compared with 425 in 2006.
Around 10 percent of the country (36 of 376 districts) are said to be a no-go areas for the government and aid workers, the report said.
The Secretary General expressed concern over the increased number of attacks targeting aid workers: “In over 130 attacks against humanitarian programmes, 40 humanitarian workers were killed and 89 abducted, of whom seven were later killed by their captors.”
The report, which comes amid growing pressure by the US on its allies to send more troops to Afghanistan, said the coordination between Afghan and NATO personnel had improved.
Ban recommended another one-year extension of the UN mission in Afghanistan by the Security Council. The mission expires March 23, 2008.