KABUL: More than 1,280 Afghan civilians have been killed in the first six months of the year as fighting rages in Afghanistan despite a pact between the United States and Taliban militants, the United Nations said on Monday.
The violence, mainly between Afghan government forces and the Taliban, killed 1,282 and injured 2,176 for a tally of 3,458 civilian casualties, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a report.
“The reality remains that Afghanistan continues to be one of the deadliest conflicts in the world for civilians,” it said in the mid-year report.
Despite a drop of 13% in casualties from the corresponding period last year, UNAMA said the Taliban continued to cause the majority of civilian casualties, mainly through use of explosive devices, abductions and summary executions.
The Taliban were responsible for 43 percent of all civilian casualties and government forces caused 23 percent, chiefly from air strikes and indirect fire during operations, it added.
The UNAMA attributed the 13% drop to fewer operations by international forces, as well as fewer attacks by Daesh militants.
In February, the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement in Doha, laying out plans for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan in exchange for security guarantees from the militants.
However, fighting has spiked in recent weeks, prompted by differences over an exchange of prisoners between the Taliban and Afghan government, as Kabul proved reluctant to free hundreds of jailed militants.
The Doha deal provided for the government to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for hundreds of Afghan troops, the main plank in starting peace negotiations between the two sides in the effort to end the 18-year-old war.
While the Afghan government has released more than 4,000 Taliban prisoners, it has refused to release another 600, saying they were involved in murder, illicit drug trafficking and major attacks.
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UN says nearly 3,500 Afghans killed or hurt in first half of 2020
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UN says nearly 3,500 Afghans killed or hurt in first half of 2020
- UNAMA said the Taliban continued to cause the majority of civilian casualties, mainly through use of explosive devices, abductions and summary executions
- The Taliban were responsible for 43 percent of all civilian casualties and government forces caused 23 percent
Russia’s war footing may remain after Ukraine war, Latvia spy chief warns
MUNICH: Russia will not end the militarization of its economy after fighting in Ukraine ends, the head of Latvia’s intelligence agency told AFP on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference which ends Sunday.
“The potential aggressiveness of Russia when the Ukraine war stops will depend of many factors: How the war ends, if it’s frozen or not, and if the sanctions remain,” Egils Zviedris, director of the Latvian intelligence service SAB, told AFP.
Some observers believe that Russia has so thoroughly embraced a war economy and full military mobilization that it will be difficult for it to reverse course, and that this could push Moscow to launch further offensives against European territories.
Zviedris said that lifting current sanctions “would allow Russia to develop its military capacities” more quickly.
He acknowledged that Russia has drawn up military plans to potentially attack Latvia and its Baltic neighbors, but also said that “Russia does not pose a military threat to Latvia at the moment.”
“The fact that Russia has made plans to invade the Baltics, as they have plans for many things, does not mean Russia is going to attack,” Zviedris told AFP.
However, the country is subject to other types of threats from Moscow, particularly cyberattacks, according to the agency he leads.
The SAB recently wrote in its 2025 annual report that Russia poses the main cyber threat to Latvia, because of broader strategic goals as well as Latvia’s staunch support of Ukraine.
The threat has “considerably increased” since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it said.
The agency has also warned that Russia is seeking to exploit alleged grievances of Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltics — and in Latvia in particular.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly claimed to be preparing cases against Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia at the UN International Court of Justice over the rights of their Russian-speaking minorities.
“The aim of litigation: to discredit Latvia on an international level and ensure long-term international pressure on Latvia to change its policy toward Russia and the Russian-speaking population,” the report said.
In 2025, approximately 23 percent of Latvia’s 1.8 million residents identified as being of Russian ethnicity, according to the national statistics office.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Latvian authorities decided to require Russian speakers residing in the country to take an exam to assess their knowledge of the Latvian language — with those failing at potential risk of deportation.
“The potential aggressiveness of Russia when the Ukraine war stops will depend of many factors: How the war ends, if it’s frozen or not, and if the sanctions remain,” Egils Zviedris, director of the Latvian intelligence service SAB, told AFP.
Some observers believe that Russia has so thoroughly embraced a war economy and full military mobilization that it will be difficult for it to reverse course, and that this could push Moscow to launch further offensives against European territories.
Zviedris said that lifting current sanctions “would allow Russia to develop its military capacities” more quickly.
He acknowledged that Russia has drawn up military plans to potentially attack Latvia and its Baltic neighbors, but also said that “Russia does not pose a military threat to Latvia at the moment.”
“The fact that Russia has made plans to invade the Baltics, as they have plans for many things, does not mean Russia is going to attack,” Zviedris told AFP.
However, the country is subject to other types of threats from Moscow, particularly cyberattacks, according to the agency he leads.
The SAB recently wrote in its 2025 annual report that Russia poses the main cyber threat to Latvia, because of broader strategic goals as well as Latvia’s staunch support of Ukraine.
The threat has “considerably increased” since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it said.
The agency has also warned that Russia is seeking to exploit alleged grievances of Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltics — and in Latvia in particular.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly claimed to be preparing cases against Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia at the UN International Court of Justice over the rights of their Russian-speaking minorities.
“The aim of litigation: to discredit Latvia on an international level and ensure long-term international pressure on Latvia to change its policy toward Russia and the Russian-speaking population,” the report said.
In 2025, approximately 23 percent of Latvia’s 1.8 million residents identified as being of Russian ethnicity, according to the national statistics office.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Latvian authorities decided to require Russian speakers residing in the country to take an exam to assess their knowledge of the Latvian language — with those failing at potential risk of deportation.
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