The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a US watchdog that monitors the billions of dollars the US spends in war-torn country, said in a new report that targeted attacks by the Taliban and ISIS on government officials, civil society leaders and journalists had increased.
Five journalists and a number of civil society leaders have been killed in targeted attacks in Afghanistan in the last two months of 2020, the report said.
Most of the targeted attacks took place in Kabul, Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
The report adds that despite the demands of US officials from the warring factions to end the violence in the country for progress in the Afghan peace process, the violence continues.
According to the NATO Resolute Support Mission, 2,586 civilians were injured in the violence in Afghanistan from October 1 to December 31 last year, of which 810 were killed.
According to the report, most of these casualties were due to the explosion of magnetic mines. Despite the continuing violence in the country, civilian casualties had fallen by 14 percent compared to last year, the report added.
The findings by the US forces in Afghanistan show that attacks in Kabul have increased in recent months compared to last year.
The report said the Taliban attacks across Afghanistan during the last quarter of 2020 were slightly lower than in the preceding quarter, but exceeded those of the same period in 2019, according to numbers provided by US forces in Afghanistan.
The report comes as the Biden administration plans to review the peace agreement between the US and the Taliban signed last February under President Donald Trump.
