Taliban dismiss UNO report on Afghan civilian casualties as "politically-motivated"

Kabul, Dec 23 (ANI): The Taliban have refuted the latest United Nations Organization (UNO) report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan that blamed insurgents for the majority of deaths there, calling it "politically-motivated", and a "propaganda stint aimed at concealing American brutalities" in the war-ravaged country.

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan believes the recent report of the United Nations is based on figures, being their own guesswork, and, therefore, categorically refutes them," The Nation quoted the Taliban website, as saying.

"The Islamic Emirate believes, these reports are politically- motivated and tailored to meet the interests of America. So it has demanded an investigation to find out the veracity of the reports. Unfortunately, the UNO has constantly been publishing baseless reports and is not ready to take steps to substantiate their credibility and trustworthiness," it added.

The Taliban website said that once again, the "so-called advocates of human rights" have raised the issue of civilian casualties in Afghanistan for "achievement of political and propaganda points, but are not ready to tackle the issue practically and conduct investigations in this respect."

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is of the opinion that the release of the report is a propaganda stint aimed at concealing American brutalities," who have killed tens of thousands of civilians in the past nine years, it claimed.

As an instance of US brutalities, it pointed towards the operations in Kandahar and the night raids strategy of US general, David Petraeus, which according to the Taliban caused deaths of thousands of civilian Afghans, and razed "whole villages" to the ground.

"We openly tell the UN, your report will be effective only in misleading those who are not interested in knowing the ground realities in Afghanistan," the website said.

"The Islamic Emirate believes, the release of these partial reports will only damage the credibility of the UNO. They have already harmed the World Body and it will further lose its veracity in the eyes of the people," it concluded. (ANI)