Afghanistan - BBC glass half empty

Compare and contrast this BBC report with this Daily Times report.

Here's what the BBC report:

"There has been a surge in violence in southern Afghanistan, coinciding with the arrival of thousands of international troops trying to help the government bring security to areas where it has little control.

As well as fighting between coalition forces and Taleban rebels, there have been many roadside bombings, suicide attacks and assassinations of local government officials.

Thursday's blast came two days after two US troops were killed in clashes with the Taleban, and less than a week after the death of UK soldier.

More than 30 foreign soldiers have been killed in action in Afghanistan this year, most of them American."

Using the BBC's figures that equates to 30 soldiers killed in six months or about 5 a month. Tragic to be sure but what's missing?

Here's what the BBC don't tell as reported by the Daily Times:

KHOST: "At least 30 Taliban were killed in violence across Afghanistan on Wednesday, while four civilians died in rocket attacks on the same day."

30 in one day vs 30 in six months kind of puts it in perspective.

Also note how the BBC portray the "surge" in violence as "coinciding" with the arrival of coalition forces. In fact, what's really going on is coalition forces are going after the terrorists. Here again from the Times:

Colonel Tom Collins, a coalition spokesman in Kabul, said that US, British and Canadian troops were launching Operation Mountain Thrust in the volatile and largely lawless south to combat the Taliban and extend the control of the government of President Hamid Karzai. “Operation Mountain Thrust is not about just killing and capturing extremists and militants threatening the security of the Afghan people,” he told a news conference. “It is very much about establishing the condition for the government of Afghanistan that can extend authority in the areas where it currently does not have a presence.”

In other words, the coalition didn't just show up and the Taliban started attacking, coalition forces are aggressively attacking the Taliban to extend government control over more of the country. And from the numbers the Taliban are losing.
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