UN: Afghan Violence Up 39 Percent Over 2010
Violence Raises New Questions About NATO's 2014 'End' Date
In statistics released today, the United Nations is reporting that violence is soaring in Afghanistan, with month to month comparisons in the number of attacks showing a 39 percent increase in violence over 2010.
That’s a big jump, and its doubly serious because 2010 Afghanistan was head and shoulders above every other year in every metric of violence. Despite US claims of “progress,” it seems 2011 has become even worse.
The UN report noted not only a major increase in attacks, but an increase in the complexity of those attacks, with officials saying the area around Kandahar, the target of much of the 2010 campaign NATO continues to crow about, remaining the worst part of the nation.
The end result is a grim one, with the report raising additional questions about the already shaky 2014 date NATO tried to set for the “end” of the war. Of course, US officials are already talking privately about the date being moved to 2024, but data showing the war remains a miserable failure is likely to be a pretext for continuing it even longer.
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Jan Burton
September 29th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
If NATO were to pull out 100% tomorrow, violence would probably return to pre-1996 levels, when Kabul was shelled into rubble and millions fled.
But that's fine. The world ignored that violence at the time (Bosnia was all that mattered) and I suspect we'll ignore it again.
contraviews
September 29th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
I remember that just before the Soviets withdrawal from Afghanistan the war began to concentrate more and more in and around the capital Kabul. Witin the last couple of years New Zealand lost four of its SAS (Special Forces) in that country, the last one this week. New Zealand I must shamefully admit had a very small contingent of troops stationed in that country since 2001 at the request of the U.S.!! I find it shameful that simple, uneducated, historically ignorent, brainwashed, deceived young men, are sent there under the pretext that they 'are serving their country', but who have no idea that in fact they are serving American foreign big business interest. I find that wholly disgusting.