US Soldier Deaths Double from Last Year in Afghanistan

Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that the number of US troops “killed in Afghanistan has roughly doubled in the first three months of 2010 compared to the same period last year.”

The report also noted that the number of US wounded has also increased in recent months due in part to the major US/NATO offensive in Afghanistan. “The number of U.S. troops wounded in Afghanistan and three smaller theaters where there isn’t much battlefield activity rose from 85 in the first two months of 2009 to 381 this year, an increase of almost 350 percent. A total of 50 U.S. troops were wounded last March, an average of 1.6 per day. In comparison, 44 were injured during just the first six days of March this year, an average of 7.3 per day.”

The AP article cites several US & NATO officials who are trying to justify the increased number of US soldier deaths. “We must steel ourselves, no matter how successful we are on any given day, for harder days yet to come,” Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a briefing last month.

“In total, 57 U.S. troops were killed here during the first two months of 2010 compared with 28 in January and February of last year, an increase of more than 100 percent, according to Pentagon figures compiled by The Associated Press. At least 20 American service members have been killed so far in March, an average of about 0.8 per day, compared to 13, or 0.4 per day, a year ago.”

However, the AP article does not talk to US ground forces or families of fallen soldiers, thus avoiding any of the real pain inflicted on the American public because of the current US military offensive in Afghanistan.

In addition, there was no mention of the number of Afghan civilian deaths as a result of the US/NATO offensive, even though there seems to be some data that suggests that the number are up and that it could contribute to growing anti-occupation sentiment.