Pentagon watchdog sees big spike in Afghan civilian casualties as war grinds on

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan spiked “significantly” between the months of July through September due to a higher number of attacks, most notably before the country’s presidential elections last month, a Pentagon watchdog said Thursday.

The Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which monitors U.S. government efforts inside Afghanistan, said the number of civilian deaths caused by the Taliban during the quarter “more than tripled” compared to the same period last year.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported a record-breaking jump in civilian casualties at 4,313 deaths — a 42% increase from the same time last year, and the NATO-led Resolute Support mission recorded a 38% spike in civilian deaths from the same time in 2018.

The report comes as U.S. negotiators attempt to revive nearly a year’s worth of negotiations with Afghan government officials and Taliban leaders to settle the 18-year-long war in the nation, after U.S. talks with the Taliban unraveled in September.

The radical Islamist movement and the Trump administration appeared on the verge of a breakthrough deal to bring the bulk of U.S. troops home from Afghanistan this year.

Mr. Trump later declared the ongoing peace talks “dead” after the Taliban launched an attack in Kabul that killed an American soldier — just days before leaders from the U.S.-backed Afghan government in Kabul and the Taliban were set to meet at Camp David.

The latest congressionally mandated report found that violence resulting from Taliban attacks shot up over the summer, and roughly half of the enemy-initiated attacks were “successful.”

Political violence and protests also increased by 61% surrounding the contentious election that was pushed back from April to September.

Taliban leaders repeatedly threatened to target polling places ahead of the contest, in which President Ashraf Ghani sought a second term in a race against more than a dozen opponents. Afghan election officials announced earlier this week that preliminary results of the race are delayed until November.