TEHRAN - Earning another dubious distinction for itself, Afghanistan has now overtaken Iraq to become the world’s deadliest country for terrorism, according to a report released earlier this week.

One-quarter of all worldwide terrorism-related deaths during 2017 occurred in Afghanistan, according to the latest Global Terrorism Index. It cited a surge in attacks by the Taliban and the ISIS.

The security situation in Afghanistan has alarmingly deteriorated in past few years with insurgent groups upping the ante and carrying out deadly campaigns across the country. The United Nations mission in the country has recorded unprecedented civilian casualties since the war began in 2001.

According to the report published by Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace, in total, Afghanistan recorded 4,653 fatalities across 1,168 terrorist incidents last year. The Taliban was responsible for 77 percent of them.

However, worldwide deaths linked to terrorism fell for the third consecutive year, the report notes.

Over the past few months, Taliban has been involved in so-called ‘peace talks’ with the U.S. government, even though the group has intransigently refused to engage with the Ashraf Ghani government in Kabul, calling it a “puppet government”.

However, the experts believe the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan has not only destroyed the country but led to thousands of civilian casualties and incalculable collateral damage over the years. Dialogue and violence, they argue, cannot go hand in hand.