THE civilian death toll in Afghanistan has reached a new high in the first six months of the year, according to the United Nations.

The global agency began keeping track of the deaths of non-combatants in 2009, eight years after the beginning of the conflict in 2001.

A new report by UNAMA, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, revealed close to 1700 deaths in violence between January and June, making for the highest number over a six month period. Another 3400 non-combatants were wounded during this time. That total marks a drop of 5% on the first half of 2017.

The grim figures reflect the violence which continues to plague the country, with conflict continuing between government and Nato forces and the Taliban, a Daesh affiliate, warlords and other factions.

Suicide bombings continue to focus on civilian targets and almost 400 of those killed in the first six months of the year were children. Meanwhile, almost 1000 youngsters suffered injuries of varying severity.

In June, the Taliban accepted a three-day ceasefire over Eid al-Fitr at the end of holy month Ramadan. President Ashraf Ghani has since called for an extension and for renewed peace talks, but the Islamist network has rejected this.

Commenting, Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-General’s special representative for Afghanistan, said: “The brief cease-fire demonstrated that the fighting can be stopped and that Afghan civilians no longer need to bear the brunt of the war. We urge parties to seize all opportunities to find a peaceful settlement – this is the best way that they can protect all civilians.”

The UNAMA report follows talks on security in Afghanistan at the recent Nato summit, when members committed to provide funding for government forces until 2024.

The agreement read: “We, the heads of state and government of the nations contributing to the resolute support mission, and the president of the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, met today in Brussels to reaffirm our shared commitment to Afghanistan’s long-term security and stability.

“The people of Afghanistan demand peace and we are encouraged by the momentum building in that direction. We remain united in our commitment to help Afghanistan attain it.

But Mohammad Asif of the Afghan Human Rights Foundation told The National the casualty statistics prove there is currently “no optimism” for his home country.

The activist, who came to Scotland as a refugee, said: “There is a year-on-year increase of civilians being killed by a combination of all parties – Nato, the Taliban, Islamic State, foreign forces.

“Nato says it is going to fund the Afghan government til 2024, so what that means is the war will continue until then, and we will see what happens after that.

“We were told that after 9/11 and the invasion, they would make Afghanistan a secure and stable place. Billions and billions have been spent – it has cost so much money and so many lives, and all it has done is increase the influence of the warlords. There is no optimism for Afghanistan at the moment.”

According to human rights group Amnesty, “widespread” human rights abuses have been perpetrated against Afghan civilians in the past year, with a “significant minority” of deaths caused by pro-government forces.

Meanwhile, offences by anti-government groups include the execution of a pregnant mother-of-six accused of being a government supporter and several deadly mosque attacks.

An increase in the public punishment of women by armed factions using Sharia law has been reported, with attacks against the Shia and Hazara communities thought to have increased, with insurgent groups said to be behind most of this harassment and persecution.

Meanwhile, the Taliban has made strong gains since the formal end of the US-Nato combat mission in 2014 and is now understood to be in control of or openly active in 70% of the country.