Violence, Bloodshed Mount in Afghanistan, Report Says – NBCNews.com

Defense Secretary James Mattis, third from right, walks with U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. David Clark, left, and Gen. Christopher Haas, second from right, as he arrives at Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 24. Jonathan Ernst / AP

According to the report, the death tolls for both civilians and members of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) are the highest recorded since the United Nations Assistance Mission began reporting them in 2009.

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In the first six weeks of 2017 alone, SIGAR said, 807 security forces personnel were

Overall, the report says, "conflict-related civilian casualties in Afghanistan rose to 11,418 in 2016," again a record.

The crisis extends beyond the dead and wounded, with 660,000 Afghan citizens fleeing their homes in 2016 to avoid violence. That, too, was a record and a 40 percent increase over 2015.

All the numbers reflect increased violence across the country. And while the U.S. military command in Afghanistan says the territory controlled by the central government increased to nearly 60 percent of the country's 407 districts, the report notes that "preventing insurgents from increasing their control or influence of districts continues to be a challenge for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF)."

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The first U.S. combat death of 2017 in Afghanistan occurred on April 8. An Army Special Forces soldier was killed while conducting counterterrorism operations against the Islamic State,

Afghanistan is troubled not just by Islamic extremist violence, the report adds. Growth and consumption of heroin is also on the rise, and the insurgents often benefit.

"Narcotics traffickers provide weapons, funding, and material support to the insurgency in exchange for protection, while insurgent leaders traffic drugs to finance their operations," said the report.

Afghanistan's potential opium production was about 4,800 metric tons in 2016 alone, according to a new survey carried out by the United Nations. More troubling, perhaps, is that drug use among Afghan women and children is among the highest documented worldwide, with 30.6 percent of households testing positive for some form of illicit drug.

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Violence, Bloodshed Mount in Afghanistan, Report Says - NBCNews.com

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