Warnings won't improve how the Afghani people perceive NATO. If the Afghanis continue to reject the presence of NATO and think they are directly responsible for the death of civilians (deaths that could have been prevented), the Afghani people will make NATO work harder to propagandize the world into thinking NATO is in Afghanistan for a good cause.
Recent reports indicate that civilian casualties have steadily increased since 2005, which is why NATO is now publicly warning civilians of attacks. Could increases in casualties be happening because there are less than 100 al Qaeda in Afghanistan or because after eight years the Taliban has really been decimated?
In 2009, Reuters
reported "civilian deaths caused
by pro-government forces, including U.S., NATO and Afghan security forces, rose
nearly a third in 2008 from a year earlier to 828."
Each report of those killed in attacks increases
the uproar from villagers in Afghanistan who claim innocent friends and family
were killed. NATO and U.S. leaders react by "pledging" to "investigate" the
attack to see if innocent people were killed and to also confirm that they did,
in fact, kill some Taliban.
Conflict has risen between alliances and organizations monitoring the Afghan War and the Afghani people over how many of those civilian deaths are a result of Taliban insurgents. The UN reported in January of this year that "2,021 civilians were killed in the first 10 months" of 2009 and 1,400 civilians died as a result of insurgents while 465 died as a result "U.S. and other pro-government forces."
Military forces have blamed the Taliban for drawing
attention to deaths of innocent victims to promote protest against foreign
troops in Afghanistan. This should come as no surprise. This is part of NATO's system for discrediting claims that civilians were killed.
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