Afghans carry the coffin of Afghan cameraman Zubair Hatami, who died on Saturday of injuries sustained in a Taliban attack at a French cultural centre, in Kabul December 21, 2014. 
 
 Afghans lower the coffin of Afghan cameraman Zubair Hatami, who died on Saturday of injuries sustained in a Taliban attack at a French cultural centre, in Kabul December 21, 2014. 
 
 KABUL Afghanistan's Taliban on Sunday accused the United Nations of "enmity and political motives" in reporting that three-quarters of a record-high number of civilians killed and wounded this year were victims of the insurgents. 
 
 Denouncing a U.N. report as "biased and unfounded", the insurgents accused U.N. investigators of intentionally skewing statistics to blame the Taliban. 
 
 The United Nations said that for a second year, insurgents were responsible for about 75 percent of civilians killed, with the toll reaching a new high of 3,188 through November, more than for any other full year since it began tracking numbers. 
 
 The Taliban said in a statement emailed to journalists the assertion was false. 
 
 "Civilian casualties in the current war are mainly caused by the heavy blind U.S. air bombardments," the militants said, citing disputed reports that a U.S. air strike killed several school children last week. 
 
 They also asserted that Afghan army, police and militias indiscriminately kill civilians and slammed the United Nations for classifying government officials who were assassinated as civilians - the Taliban consider all Afghan government workers legitimate targets. 
 
 The United Nations called on Friday on all sides of the war to work to limit civilian deaths and injuries. 
 
 (Editing by Robert Birsel) 

 KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — At least 151 Taliban fighters have been killed by government forces during 12 days of fighting in the volatile east, near the border with Pakistan, the police chief of Kunar province said Tuesday. 
 
 Gen. Abdul Habib Sayedkhaili said at least another 100 insurgents were wounded in the fighting in Dangam district. 
 
 He said the Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-i-Taiba -- the group responsible for the attacks on Mumbai in 2008 in which more than 160 people were killed -- were also taking part in the battle. 
 
 "That 17 foreign fighters that were killed during the battle prove that foreigners are supporting local insurgents in the area," he said. 
 
 "As Dangam is so close to the border, it is very easy for them to cross the border into Afghanistan and help the insurgents here. We are very careful with conducting our operations to prevent civilian casualties," he said. 
 
 The presence of foreign fighters in Taliban battles in Afghanistan is not unusual. The Afghan Taliban leadership is believed to be based in the Pakistani city of Quetta, and Kabul has long accused Pakistan of turning a blind eye to the group. Dangam is four kilometers (2.5 miles) from the porous border. 
 
 The Taliban denied losing so many fighters but did not provide their own figures. 
 
 Sayedkhaili said local people had joined the fight against the insurgents, and that five had been killed and 12 wounded, including both locals and security forces. He said there was no involvement of either Pakistani government forces or international forces that have been based in Afghanistan for the past 13 years. The U.S. and NATO are due to withdraw the last of their combat troops on Dec. 31, leaving behind a residual force of 13,000 to provide training and some battlefield backup. 
 
 Taliban attacks have escalated since international forces withdrew from Kunar four months ago and the fight across the country has intensified. 
 
 Kabul and Islamabad have discussed joining forces to launch operations against insurgent groups following last week's school massacre in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, in which Pakistani Taliban fighters killed more than 140 people, mainly children. 
 
 Gen. Sher Muhammad Karimi, chief of the general staff of the Afghan National Army and Gen. John Campbell, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, met with the head of the Pakistani army, Gen. Raheel Sharif, in Islamabad on Tuesday, Pakistan's military said in a statement. 
 
 The statement referred to "recently commenced operations by Afghan forces" against the Pakistani Taliban in areas close to border. 
 
 "Gen. Raheel Sharif vowed to extend full support to the visiting Afghan Chief of General Staff and ISAF Commander in all spheres, including coordinated operations in respective areas by both sides and sharing of intelligence," it said, without further elaboration. 
 
 Senior Afghan officials have said that no joint Afghan-Pakistani operations have yet been launched in border areas, but that cooperation against the Taliban is being discussed. 

 Georgette Gagnon, director of human rights for the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), speaks during a news conference in Kabul July 31, 2013. 
 
 KABUL At least 3,188 Afghan civilians have been killed in the intensifying war with the Taliban in 2014, making it the deadliest year on record for non-combatants, the United Nations said on Friday. 
 
 The numbers are a sharp reminder that the Afghan war is far from over, even as a U.S.-led international force formally ends its combat mission at the end of the month, shifting to a supporting role for Afghan forces after 13 years. 
 
 "The situation for civilians in Afghanistan is becoming increasingly dire," said Georgette Gagnon, human rights director for the U.N. mission in Kabul. 
 
 As of Nov. 30, the United Nations had recorded a total of 3,188 civilian deaths and 6,429 injuries. 
 
 That puts 2014 on track to be the first year on record that combined civilian casualties will surpass 10,000. 
 
 Civilian deaths over the year to the end of November were up 19 percent over the same period last year and had already surpassed the previous high set in 2011, when 3,133 civilians were killed. 
 
 For the first time, ground battles between the Taliban and Afghan forces became the main cause of civilian deaths. In previous years, planted bombs killed the most civilians. 
 
 "That is very worrying," said Gagnon, calling on all sides to do more to keep civilians from being caught in crossfire of mortars and other heavy weapons. 
 
 About three-quarters of civilian casualties were caused by Taliban insurgents, who are intensifying their fight to re-establish their hardline Islamist regime that was toppled in a U.S.-backed military intervention for sheltering the al Qaeda architects of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. cities. 
 
 Since the U.N. began tracking civilian casualties in 2009, a total of 17,252 civilian deaths and 29,536 injuries have been recorded. 
 
 While U.S. military officials have portrayed the war as in the process of being won by Afghan security forces, the national army and police have also suffered record losses this year, with more than 4,600 killed. 
 
 Since 2001, nearly 3,500 foreign soldiers from 29 countries have been killed in Afghanistan, including about 2,200 Americans. 
 
 (Editing by Robert Birsel)
– Following the departure of most US forces from Afghanistan, clashes between its security forces and the Taliban have been renewed, with brutal fighting returning to areas that had been comparatively quiet, the New York Times reports. From June to November, some 1,300 members of Afghan security forces were killed in Helmand province alone, and a local hospital remained nearly full even after the customary fighting season ended. Many civilians have also been treated at the hospital, including 940 women and children through October. "This year is much worse than previous years," says a medical official. Indeed, over the course of the year, the country has seen some 5,000 security-force deaths, a record, the Times reports. Civilian deaths have also hit a record high, and total civilian casualties are poised to pass 10,000 for the year, Reuters reports. The UN says three-quarters of the 3,188 civilians killed through November were killed by insurgents, a figure the Taliban calls "biased and unfounded," Reuters notes. Meanwhile, the country has seen increased corruption and declines in government services since the US departed. "Our own commanders sell our bullets to the Taliban instead of giving them to us, and then they buy a nice house in Lashkar Gah and stay there, leaving the little guys out there to do the fighting," says a wounded police officer. But the Afghan forces are still "holding on," the Times notes, and an Afghan official says 151 Taliban members have been killed in 12 days of fighting near the Pakistani border, the AP reports.