Most of the civilian deaths happened during the U.S.-led occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. The figure by a war monitoring group only refers to civilians killed by warplanes and drones.

At least 22,000 civilians have been killed by U.S.-led airstrikes in a number of countries in West Asia as well as Africa over the last two decades of the “forever wars” according to research conducted by a conflict monitor.

According to Airwars, since 2001, when the U.S.-led the so-called war on terror after the attacks in New York and Washington DC, U.S. airstrikes likely killed at least 22,679 civilians, but the number could be as many as 48,308. 

Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, the London-based organization, Airwars released its estimate of civilian deaths. Airwars has warned that the real figure could be as high as nearly 50,000 civilians.

The statistics take into account civilians that had been killed during the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, in addition to bombing campaigns against alleged Daesh targets in Iraq and Syria. The figure also includes airstrikes in Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen.

The deadliest year, when looking at the minimum total death toll, was 2003 when at least 5,529 civilians were reported to have been killed by alleged U.S. strikes, almost all during the invasion of Iraq.

The next deadliest year was 2017, during Donald Trump’s first year as U.S. President when at least 4,931 civilians were likely killed, the vast majority in alleged American-led coalition bombing of Iraq and Syria. During Trump’s four-year term in office, he loosed the restrictions on conducting airstrikes, giving the option to conduct airstrikes to lower personnel in the military chain of command, who chose when out more attacks without the need for permission from senior commanders. 

Trump has revoked a policy requiring U.S. intelligence officials to publish the number of civilians killed in drone strikes outside of war zones.

2017 saw deadliest year with the maximum possible death toll. Airwars said that as many as 19,623 civilians were killed by U.S. or coalition strikes that year against alleged Daesh targets.

The first seven months of the Trump administration resulted in more civilian deaths than under the entire previous eight years. Researchers at the time pointed to an alarming pattern with the “frequent killing of entire families”. During that period war monitoring groups were deeply concerned about the fatality numbers and publicly warned the increasing trend of civilian casualties was unlikely to diminish.

The vast majority of civilian harm, 97 percent, occurred during the occupation of Iraq between 2003 and 2009, the 20-year-long occupation of Afghanistan, and the bombing campaign against alleged Daesh targets. 

The U.S. Department of Defense refuses to publish the full counts of civilian casualties. The report from Airwars cited data from several sources; these include the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Bureau of Investigative Journalism, The Nation, and the volunteer project Iraq Body Count.

In recent days, officials have claimed that the U.S. military goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties during operations. Military experts say U.S. airstrikes by warplanes or drones rarely strike terrorists but rather tend to kill civilians instead. Analysts say terrorists such as Daesh cannot be wiped out from the skies and can only be defeated by ground troops on the battlefield.

When asked about obtaining data for the report, an official with U.S. Central Command told Airwars that “the information you request is not immediately on-hand in our office as it spans between multiple operations/campaigns within a span of between 18 and 20 years”.

Critics argue the result of civilian casualties from U.S. airstrikes only radicalizes the local population. In effect having the opposite purpose of killing terrorists, locals join terror extremist groups. 

U.S. President Joe Biden has vowed in recent days that just because U.S. ground troops have withdrawn from Afghanistan, it does not mean that America has ceased pursuing Daesh and other terrorist groups, leaving open the possibility of more airstrikes and the devastation that typically follows.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi recently said the United States must be held accountable for supporting terrorism fomented by the Daesh Takfiri group and other new forms of terrorism.