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Afghan monitor says 2010 worst year of war
This year has been the most violent since the Afghan war began in 2001 and civilian deaths have risen slightly with the increased insecurity, a local rights group said Monday.
A massive US-led increase in troops has failed to quell the Taliban-led insurgency, Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM) said.
"In terms of insecurity, 2010 has been the worst year since the demise of the Taliban regime in late 2001," it said.
"Not only have the number of security incidents increased, the space and depth of the insurgency and counter-insurgency-related violence have maximized dramatically," ARM said.
About 1,074 civilians were killed and more than 1,500 injured in war-related incidents in the first six months of 2010, compared with 1,059 killed in the same period last year, ARM said.
In late December, US President Barack Obama ordered an extra 30,000 American troops into Afghanistan as part of a new counter-insurgency strategy designed to reverse the Taliban momentum and speed up an end to the nine-year war.
But ARM's mid-year report "Civilian Casualties of Conflict" said Obama's policy of intensifying operations against the Taliban has not disrupted, dismantled or defeated the insurgents.
On the contrary, it says, "the insurgency has become more resilient, multi-structured and deadly".