Prevention of Civilian Casualties, an Important Objective of the Current Jihad

On 25^th July, 2016, UNAMA published its six months report on civilian casualties for the current year. As usual, they have attributed a major percentage of civilian casualties to the Islamic Emirate in the report.   Unfortunately, portion of civilian casualties caused by   troops of the invading countries or the Kabul Administration has constantly and comparatively remained much less and   in some cases negligible ever since   UNAMA began recording civilian casualties in January 2009. This is why the Islamic Emirate has continued to criticize UNAMA reports.

In fact, the Islamic Emirate has emerged from among the people and live among them. It is the reason that the leadership of the Islamic Emirate has been paying close attention to prevention of civilian casualties as per policy while through the Political Office and the  Civilian Casualties Prevention Department, has  shown willingness to cooperate with UNAMA Human Rights Section regarding civilian casualties prevention. Simultaneously, IEA leadership has given instructions to governors and commanders about prevention of civilian casualties on different occasions, holding seminars from time to time to boost practical   awareness of the mujahedeen.  Likewise,   IEA has added prevention of civilian casualties department to the setup of the Military Commission, with full authority and an exclusive rule of conduct– the article 9 of which says that civilian casualties are in no way acceptable for the Islamic Emirate. Similarly, the leader of the Islamic Emirates has always emphasized on good conduct with the common man and on prevention of civilian casualties. Apart from that,  delegations of the Islamic Emirate,  during their   participation in  international conferences ( on Afghanistan)  like:  Keyoto Conference,  Japan,  Chantilly Conference, France,  Oslo Forum, Norway and other  conferences held in Doha,  have described  prevention of civilian casualties as the main objective of the current Jihad. All these show the firm resolution and policy of the Islamic Emirate regarding prevention of civilian casualties.

However, it is to be mentioned that civilian casualties in Afghanistan is not the result of the use of light weapons but rather have been caused by  use of heavy weapons, blind bombardment and drone attacks  which are carried out by  the invading forces or the forces of the Kabul  Administration. In fact, all these weapons are at their disposal per se. Practical examples are Dand Ghuri and Dand Shahabuddin of Baghlan province where houses of the locals were destroyed; children, women and the elderly were martyred and thousands of people displaced as a result.

Mujahedeen of the Islamic Emirate neither resort to explosion in places of people’s congestion as per the rule of conduct given to them and nor do they use mines which can’t be remotely controlled. Similarly, those mines which are left from the time of Jihad against the former Soviet Union and occasionally cause civilian casualties should not be attributed to the Islamic Emirate. Moreover, all those explosives and mines which are solely in the possession of governments and cause casualties, do not belong to the Islamic Emirate. Such incidents have their own wicked objectives and the Islamic Emirate declares its non-involvement in them.

The United Nation regards itself as a World Neutral Body. So its reports should be indicators of realities and not a stunt of maligning. As such, it is indispensable for this August Body if it wants to garner the trust of people instead of governments.  Of course, if the Human Rights Section of the United Nations have any query regarding the shared goal of prevention of civilian casualties, it can be taken up with the Political Office of the Islamic Emirate.  The Islamic Emirate, on its part, welcomes every positive proposal put forward for prevention of civilian casualties.