War in Pakistan, Afghanistan has killed over 149,000 since 2001: report

A new study, titled, ‘Costs of War’, produced by Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies claims that civilian and military casualties in Afghanistan and Pakistan total almost 149,000 people killed, along with 162,000 critically wounded.

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The study looks at war-related deaths, injuries and displacement in Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2001 to last year, when international combat troops left Afghanistan.

Costs of War says that since the 2001 US-led invasion overthrew the Taliban regime has killed as many as 100,000 people and wounded about the same number.

Noting the increase in the annual figures of the people killed, the report's author, Neta Crawford, said the war in Afghanistan “is getting worse".

Further, the UN said civilian casualties rose 16% in the first four months of 2015, with 974 people killed.

Crawford said that while military deaths are accounted for, civilian figures are difficult to source.

The report's figures are based on statistics from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, as well as other sources, she said.

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Most civilian deaths happened after 2007, with more than 17,700 civilian deaths recorded by UNAMA between 2009 and 2014.

Crawford added that most civilians were killed by terrorists. Breaking the figures down, the report found that 26,270 Afghan civilians have been killed and 29,900 injured as a direct consequence of the war.

The overall figure includes civilians, Taliban and other militants, US and allied forces, aid workers and journalists.

Crawford also said that since last year, it became clear that insurgents were not distinguishing between civilian and combatants. Deaths that are impossible to attribute have also begun to rise.

This article originally appeared on the Associated Press.