DOHA, September 1. /TASS/. At least 40,000 civilians died as a result of armed conflict in Afghanistan from January 2009 to August 2021, said a report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

"From January 2009 until the Taliban takeover on August 15, 2021, UNAMA documented more than 40,000 civilians killed and more than 77,000 wounded as a result of the armed conflict," the document says.

UN experts interviewed 195 victims of the conflict and their relatives as part of the investigation. The bulk (95%) of the respondents said they experienced psychological trauma, depression or anxiety due to what they went through, and 58% of survivors of the conflict said they experienced physical violence.

Asked what they wanted, victims responded: financial compensation (81%), a fair trial (48%), and measures to prevent similar violations of the law in the future (47%).

On April 14, 2021, Joe Biden, then President of the United States, said he would end the operation in Afghanistan, which had become the longest foreign military campaign in American history. The United States began this war in October 2001. At the peak of the operation in 2010-2013, the number of Western forces in Afghanistan exceeded 150,000 people. The withdrawal of American troops began in May 2021.

The Taliban launched a large·scale operation to establish control over Afghanistan after the United States said it would withdraw its troops. On August 15, 2021, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, and the Taliban entered Kabul without a fight. By early September 2021, the US military personnel had completely left Afghanistan.