US Death Toll in Afghanistan Tops 1,000
Troop Casualties Rise at Alarming Rate
Five US troops were reported killed this morning by a suicide bomber in Kabul, bringing the total number of American soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion to over 1,000.
If the story sounds somewhat familiar, it is because some media outlets falsely reported the 1,000 mark being passed in February. That number was in fact the number killed in “Operation Enduring Freedom” (OEF), a blanket term covering the Afghan War and several other little discussed wars since 2001. The total OEF number is now 1,079.
The 1,000 figure by itself tells only part of the story however, and doesn’t reveal just how rapidly the death toll has risen in recent months.
The first 500 US troops were killed between late 2001 and September 1, 2008. This was a period of about 83 months. The second 500 troops were killed from that period today, which was just over 20 months.
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E.A. Costa
May 19th, 2010 at 9:50 am
Because of the way KIA are counted it is very likely the Afghanistan toll in US troops is at least twice the official number. Killed instantly on the ground in Afghanistan you may be counted as that–on an evacuation helicopter or aircraft on the way to Germany, who knows how you will be counted–most likely wounded.
Also there are no figures on the military contractor casualties and more than half the US forces there are such mercenaries (illegal according to the anti-Pinkerton act by the way, which Rumsfeld suspended, as one recalls).
Finally the number of effectively dead–vegetables that survive in some formal definition–is surely much higher than in Vietnam.
Who is visiting the Veterans' hospitals to find out?
pwi
May 19th, 2010 at 11:00 am
"Who is visiting the Veterans' hospitals to find out?"
Are you?
E.A. Costa
May 19th, 2010 at 11:18 am
No.
Any other questions?
You may not be prepared for the answers.
TonyJoseph
May 19th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Was it the movie – "Twilight's Last Gleaming" – in which the U.S. sacrificed its young in war just to prove that it was willing to do that?
1000 died in vain – for nothing – in a phoney war on terror – for a LIE.
Afghanistan is "THE GRAVEYARD OF SOLDIERS AND OF EMPIRES" – no one ever invades Afghanistan and wins a war there.
generalissimo x
May 20th, 2010 at 4:02 am
well on the upside afghanistan is now a thriving republic…its not like we didn't have a trillion anyway and of course all those kids dieing for cia opium are well worth the price. plenty more brain dead hicks where they came from…how many more you need? 1K? 10K? anything for freedom.