Civilian Casualties

KABUL — A report released Monday accuses Afghanistan's army and police of failing to address civilian casualties as the country's newly built forces assume responsibility for security during NATO's military withdrawal. The Center for Civilians in Conflict, a Washington-based research organization, said in its report that "the capacity of the Afghan government and security forces to prevent and respond appropriately to civilian casualties is woefully underdeveloped. " The killing of civilians in...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — CIA drone strikes on targets in Pakistan violate its national sovereignty and have resulted in far more civilian casualties than the U.S. government has recognized, a special U.N. human rights envoy reported after a secret investigation in Pakistan this week. Ben Emmerson , the United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, met with Pakistani government officials for three days and came away supporting their long-stated view that they do not consent to the...

KABUL — A sharp jump in assassinations and a rise in suicide and roadside bombings in Afghanistan last year led to an increase in civilian casualties, the United Nations said Wednesday. The United Nations documented 2,777 civilian deaths in 2010, which it said marked a 15 percent rise compared with the number killed in fighting the previous year. The grim numbers in the U.N. annual report on civilian casualties come as the traditionally less-violent winter season gives way to spring, the start of the fighting...

KABUL — Civilian deaths caused by the war in Afghanistan have dropped for the first time in six years, the United Nations said Tuesday in its annual report on the conflict's toll on noncombatants. The report linked the 12 percent drop in civilian deaths in 2012 to reduced ground fighting by the warring sides, chiefly the Taliban and U.S. troops; a decrease in the number of NATO coalition airstrikes; and fewer suicide attacks by insurgents. However, U.N. officials noted increasing threats to noncombatants last...

Mark R. Jacobson is a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. From 2009 to 2011, he served with NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. At least since Pope Innocent II banned the use of crossbows against Christians in 1139, new military technologies have always created strategic and ethical dilemmas. And armed drones — the weapons of choice for today's battlefield without boundaries — are no exception. Do drone strikes provide a compelling option when battling terrorist...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — CIA drone strikes on targets in Pakistan violate its national sovereignty and have resulted in far more civilian casualties than the U.S. government has recognized, a special U.N. human rights envoy reported after a secret investigation in Pakistan this week. Ben Emmerson , the United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, met with Pakistani government officials for three days and came away supporting their long-stated view that they do...

KABUL — Civilian deaths caused by the war in Afghanistan have dropped for the first time in six years, the United Nations said Tuesday in its annual report on the conflict's toll on noncombatants. The report linked the 12 percent drop in civilian deaths in 2012 to reduced ground fighting by the warring sides, chiefly the Taliban and U.S. troops; a decrease in the number of NATO coalition airstrikes; and fewer suicide attacks by insurgents. However, U.N. officials noted increasing threats to...

Julian J. Ewell, 93, a retired Army lieutenant general who was a highly decorated paratrooper in World War II and who oversaw a major combat operation in Vietnam that critics inside and outside the military said killed thousands of civilians, died of pneumonia July 27 at Inova Fairfax Hospital. He lived at The Fairfax retirement community at Fort Belvoir. Gen. Ewell held two top command positions in Vietnam, as commander of the 9th Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta and later as commander of II Field Force, the...

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi carried out mass executions and tortured suspected regime opponents, amounting to crimes against humanity, while the anti-Gaddafi militias now governing the country carried out war crimes, according to a year-long inquiry by a U.N. commission. The report, by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council , provides the most detailed account to date of atrocities committed in Libya during the uprising and subsequent Western-backed military operation there.

The Department of Defense on Sunday evening released a declassified version of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's assessment of the war in Afghanistan. The Post agreed to publish this version, which includes minor deletions of material that officials said could compromise future operations, rather than a copy of the document marked "confidential. " Commander's Initial Assessment 30 August 2009 Commander NATO International Security Assistance Force, Afghanistan U.S. Forces, Afghanistan ...

Mark R. Jacobson is a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. From 2009 to 2011, he served with NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. At least since Pope Innocent II banned the use of crossbows against Christians in 1139, new military technologies have always created strategic and ethical dilemmas. And armed drones — the weapons of choice for today's battlefield without boundaries — are no exception. Do drone strikes provide a compelling option when battling terrorist...

KABUL — A report released Monday accuses Afghanistan's army and police of failing to address civilian casualties as the country's newly built forces assume responsibility for security during NATO's military withdrawal. The Center for Civilians in Conflict, a Washington-based research organization, said in its report that "the capacity of the Afghan government and security forces to prevent and respond appropriately to civilian casualties is woefully underdeveloped. " The killing of...

A s the international community assesses the situation in Syria, it's important to keep in mind what might be expected of NATO. I investigated the organization's actions in Libya last year while at the same time working with the United Nations' civilian protection office in Afghanistan. The difference in how NATO interacted with me in each place was striking. I had a collegial, open relationship with officials in Afghanistan — and an adversarial and frosty one with those in Libya.

The American grenade that nearly killed 10-year-old Shah Mohammed landed on an unmarked firing range in a scrubby desert, in the shadow of the largest U.S. military base in the country. Like hundreds of other U.S. explosives fired here, it was supposed to detonate on impact. Like hundreds of others, it didn't. It remained unexploded until Mohammed stumbled upon the ordnance while looking for scrap metal this month. He had nearly gathered enough shrapnel and bullet shells to trade for an ice cream...

Scrolling through the headlines in the Long War Journal — a Web site dedicated to terrorism-related news — is an education in the global drone war. Mohammed Saeed al-Umda , one of Osama bin Laden's bodyguards, confirmed killed by a drone strike in Yemen. German jihadist Samir H. killed in South Waziristan. Egyptian militant Abu Musab al-Masri killed in the Shabwa province of Yemen. The list goes on. As President Obama has attempted to wind down messy counterinsurgency operations, drone strikes have...

For a decade, American troops have fought and died defending Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government. On Thursday, with the U.S. defense secretary looking on from Kabul, Karzai demanded that those troops stop fighting for him. "Afghanistan is ready right now," Karzai said in a statement , "to take all security responsibilities completely. " With so much evidence to the contrary, it is tempting to assume that Karzai's pronouncement is simply another provocation from a war-weary leader angered...

A s the international community assesses the situation in Syria, it's important to keep in mind what might be expected of NATO. I investigated the organization's actions in Libya last year while at the same time working with the United Nations' civilian protection office in Afghanistan. The difference in how NATO interacted with me in each place was striking. I had a collegial, open relationship with officials in Afghanistan — and an adversarial and frosty one with those in Libya.

U.S. pilots and ground commanders failed to follow proper procedures during a major battle in early May in western Afghanistan , resulting in airstrikes that killed at least 26 Afghan civilians, according to a new report issued by the American military. The long-awaited document also calls for changes in the instruction and training of pilots and ground commanders. The military report concedes that it is impossible "conclusively to determine the number of civilian casualties that occurred on May 4, 2009," and...

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi carried out mass executions and tortured suspected regime opponents, amounting to crimes against humanity, while the anti-Gaddafi militias now governing the country carried out war crimes, according to a year-long inquiry by a U.N. commission. The report, by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council , provides the most detailed account to date of atrocities committed in Libya during the uprising and subsequent Western-backed military operation there.