A spokesman of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Monday that the protection of Afghan civilians remains ISAF's prime responsibility, Xinhua reported.
"The commander of ISAF, General John R. Allen, has made it clear that the priority of ISAF has been and will be on limiting civilian casualties," spokesman Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson told reporters in a weekly press briefing here.
The Afghan civilian casualties increased for the fifth year in a row last year as a total of 3,021 civilians had been killed in the war-ravaged country, according to an annual report released by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) here on Saturday.
"This week, UNAMA released its Annual Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict. ISAF is still reviewing the findings and the recommendations in the report carefully, with the intent of implementing those recommendations that may assist us in limiting civilian casualties in Afghanistan," Jacobson said, adding "we appreciate UNAMA's rigorous work in identifying and recommending solutions, and we share the goal of reducing the loss of innocent lives."
"UNAMA documented 3,021 civilian deaths in 2011 compared to 2, 790 in 2010 and 2,412 in 2009. Over the past five years, the number of Afghan civilians killed in the armed conflict has increased each year, with a total of 11,864 civilian lives claimed by the conflict since 2007," said the UNAMA's report.
The UN mission also urged anti-government militants, Afghan and the NATO-led troops to avoid civilian casualties.
"We will continue to do everything possible to prevent civilian casualties throughout 2012," the spokesman added.
According to the UNAMA report, civilian casualties has increased 8 percent in compared with 2010 in war-ravaged country.
The UN report attributed 2,332 or 77 percent of the civilian death toll last year to the attack of Taliban insurgents and other armed rebel groups.
Other 410 civilians or 14 percent of the deaths were killed by Afghan and NATO-led forces, down 4 percent from 2010, and 279 or 9 percent were unattributable, according to the report.