Afghans say they're caught in a crossfire

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Western nations are getting a share of the blame from the Afghan public for a surge in civilian deaths that the United Nations attributes to the insurgency.

Afghan citizens say the mere presence of NATO military and civilian security personnel in their cpuntry has brought the wrath of the insurgents down on them and also raised the level of collateral damage.

"What we found was that regardless of the region, province, education level or political views, in many cases Afghans blamed international forces as much as the insurgents for the increase," Erica Gaston, a human rights lawyer for the Open Society Institute, told the Washington Post.

Gaston recently interviewed 250 Afghan civilians and found widespread belief that they are caught in the crossfire of insurgent attacks and NATO-led military operations.

While a U.N. report this week said that while the United States and other forces have been able to reduce unintended civilian casualties, the Taliban and other militant groups have stepped up the level of violence on their end.

"The government, NATO, the U.N., the American forces -- they make a big, big wall of cement and they are inside," Zafar Khanbahar, 25, told the Post. "So the insurgents, to try to kill the troops, whenever they explode (a bomb], the people in the public are hit. I blame all of them, the government, NATO and the insurgents."