Staff Report
PESHAWAR: Ittehad Ulema-e-Afghanistan, an organisation of Afghan refugee religious scholars, has urged the US to declare its failure in Afghanistan and immediately withdraw NATO forces from the country, saying that the people of Afghanistan are able to reconstruct their homeland.
According to a pamphlet issued to press on Friday, the Afghan ulema led by Abdullah made three demands from President Bush.
The first demand is to announce US failure in Afghanistan; the second is to withdraw US and allied forces from Afghanistan and the third is to compensate the Afghan government for killing of thousands of people and damaging their houses and property.
“Let the Afghans be free and give them an opportunity to rebuild their country,” the Ittehad Ulema-e-Afghanistan said, adding that after US forces’ arrival and attacks in Afghanistan, the situation became from bad to worse.
It further said that jihad had become obligatory for all the Muslims whether men or women as the non-Muslims were trying to occupy Afghanistan and use it for their bad designs in the region.
The organisation said that atrocities have doubled after the US invasion on Afghanistan and vowed that through jihad they will free their nationals from the US and allied forces’ atrocities.
Peace and Justice Post 
Afghanistan: New Civilian Death Count Indicates Unrecognized Suffering
September 17, 2008War victim advocates say Afghan families deserve assistance following losses
CommonDreams.org Sep 16, 2008
WASHINGTON – September 16 – Following the release of civilian casualty figures by the United Nations today, Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC) expressed sympathy for the families with loved ones killed and called on all warring parties to provide swift, consistent, coordinated amends for that harm.
“A civilian killed in war is tragic enough, but we also know that many of these Afghans never receive the help they deserve after the loss of a loved one,” said Sarah Holewinski, CIVIC’s executive director. “Survivors are in effect harmed twice when left to pick up the pieces of their lives without proper aid or compensation.”
The statistics compiled by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) indicate that nearly 1,500 civilians were killed in the first eight months of 2008. This marks a 39 percent increase over the same period of time in 2007, with substantially higher rates of deaths caused by all warring parties in Afghanistan.
CIVIC noted that several mechanisms exist in Afghanistan to help civilians suffering combat-related losses, but that many Afghans with credible claims of deaths, injuries and significant property damage are overlooked or ignored by those well-intentioned efforts. A small number of militaries on the ground, including the United States, Canada and Germany, maintain ad-hoc systems to pay compensation when a civilian is harmed. A program created and funded by the US Congress called the Afghan Civilian Assistance Program rebuilds for the long-term the lives of civilians harmed by any international military operation. Finally, international forces maintain a common Post-Operations Humanitarian Relief Fund which provides immediate assistance, though only nine NATO states have donated. CIVIC also pointed to anecdotal evidence that the Taliban sometimes offer communities aid following combat harm in order to win the propaganda war.
“The new UN numbers give us a better picture of what has already happened,” said Holewinski. “It’s time for those fighting to change the picture of what will happen next.” CIVIC called on international forces in Afghanistan to investigate civilian harm, coordinate a response among member states and compensate wherever appropriate.
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Tags:Afghan killed, Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, damages, Sarah Holewinski, statistics
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