KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- A committee from the international community should include the Taliban when examining the growing number of civilian deaths in Afghanistan, the Taliban said.
The Taliban in a weekend statement suggested it would cooperate in an international probe into the number of civilian deaths from the war raging in Afghanistan, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reports.
The committee should include members of the NATO alliance, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and other members of the international community, the Taliban said.
The committee "should be formed to assess the very issue and conduct investigations into the civilian casualties across the country," the statement read.
The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan in its 46-page midterm report on Afghanistan blamed the Taliban and other militants for contributing to the 31 percent increase in civilian casualties during the first six months of 2010 compared with the same time last year.
The report said more than half of those killed by insurgents were children.
With international and Afghan forces pushing deep into the Taliban heartland in the Afghan south, UNAMA said more than half of the assassinations and killings during the reporting period occurred in southern Afghanistan. Conflict-related civilian deaths rose overall by 43 percent in the south.
The Taliban countered the claims, saying the civilian death toll was being used as "propaganda by the Western media."
