WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Taliban militants are responsible for the rising death toll among Afghan civilians, a top coalition forces commander said in Washington Wednesday.
Army Lt. Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, commander of the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, confirmed a U.N. report that civilian deaths in Afghanistan rose 8 percent in 2012, but pointed out that the Taliban were responsible for the huge majority of those civilian deaths, the Defense Department said in a release.
The overall increase in casualties "is an increase predominantly because of the enemy's ... targeting against civilians," Scaparrotti said during a news conference.
Scaparrotti's command, based in Kabul, directs day-to-day military operations in Afghanistan.
The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan report released last week said 3,021 Afghan civilians were killed in 2011, an increase from the 2,790 Afghans who died in 2010.
The number of casualties caused by the NATO force decreased by 4 percent, and 77 percent of the 2011 casualties were caused by the enemy, the report said.
The rise in casualties reflects the Taliban's taking a different tact in organizing attacks, Scaparrotti said.
"The freedom of action they show today is increasingly in [roadside bombs] and suicide bombing," he said. "They don't have the capability to take us on directly" so the Taliban changed their tactics, techniques and procedures to target Afghans.
