Editing Taliban (section)

=== Violence against civilians ===
According to the United Nations, the Taliban and its allies were responsible for 76% of civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2009, 75% in 2010 and 80% in 2011.<ref name="UNAMA" /><ref name="Kegley">{{Cite book |last1=Kegley |first1=Charles W. |title=World Politics: Trend and Transformation |first2=Shannon L. |last2=Blanton |publisher=Cengage |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-495-90655-1 |page=230}}</ref>

According to Human Rights Watch, the Taliban's bombings and other attacks which have led to civilian casualties "sharply escalated in 2006" when "at least 669 Afghan civilians were killed in at least 350 armed attacks, most of which appear to have been intentionally launched at non-combatants."<ref name="hrw-cbceia">{{Cite web |date=17 April 2007 |title=Human Rights News, Afghanistan: Civilians Bear Cost of Escalating Insurgent Attacks |url=http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/04/16/afghan15688.htm |access-date=2 September 2012 |publisher=Human Rights Watch}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=16 April 2007 |title=The Consequences of Insurgent Attacks in Afghanistan, April 2007, Volume 19, No. 6(C) |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/afghanistan0407/ |access-date=2 September 2012 |publisher=Human Rights Watch}}</ref>

[[File:Demonstration gegen den Taliban-Krieg in Afghanistan (51380125214).jpg|thumb|Afghans in Germany protesting against Taliban violence, 14 August 2021]]
The United Nations reported that the number of civilians killed by both the Taliban and pro-government forces in the war rose nearly 50% between 2007 and 2009. The high number of civilians killed by the Taliban is blamed in part on their increasing use of [[improvised explosive device]]s (IEDs), "for instance, 16 IEDs have been planted in girls' schools" by the Taliban.<ref name="Arnoldy">{{Cite journal |last=Arnoldy |first=Ben |date=31 July 2009 |title=In Afghanistan, Taliban kills more civilians than US |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0731/p06s15-wosc.html |journal=The Christian Science Monitor}}</ref>

In 2009, Colonel [[Richard Kemp]], formerly Commander of British forces in Afghanistan and the intelligence coordinator for the British government, drew parallels between the tactics and strategy of [[Hamas]] in [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]] to those of the Taliban. Kemp wrote:

{{blockquote|Like Hamas in Gaza, the Taliban in southern Afghanistan are masters at shielding themselves behind the civilian population and then melting in among them for protection. Women and children are trained and equipped to fight, collect intelligence, and ferry arms and ammunition between battles. Female suicide bombers are increasingly common. The use of women to shield gunmen as they engage [[NATO]] forces is now so normal it is deemed barely worthy of comment. Schools and houses are routinely booby-trapped. Snipers shelter in houses deliberately filled with women and children.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The UN Goldstone Commission: A Lesson in Farcical Hypocrisy, Defense Update. By David Eshel |url=http://defense-update.com/analysis/analysis_280909_goldstone_kemp.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130223032851/http://defense-update.com/analysis/analysis_280909_goldstone_kemp.html |archive-date=2013-02-23 |access-date=2012-09-02 |publisher=Defense-update.com}}</ref><ref name="kemp2">[http://www.securityaffairs.org/issues/2010/18/kemp.php Israel and the New Way of War] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226163948/https://www.securityaffairs.org/issues/2010/18/kemp.php |date=26 December 2010 }}, ''The Journal of International Security Affairs'', Spring 2010 – Number 18</ref>|Richard Kemp|Commander of British forces in Afghanistan}}