Afghanistan - US casualty figures

The Guardian reports on US casualty figures in Afghanistan.

As of Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2006, at least 288 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The Defense Department last updated its figures on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2006.

Of those, the military reports 186 were killed by hostile action.

Every loss is tragic and we mourn for them and their families but let's take a closer look at these figures.

Note that for some reason Pakistan and Uzbekistan are included in the report which would indicate that not all the deaths reported here occurred in Afghanistan.

Notice the 186 figure is for an almost 5 year period. That works out to about 35 deaths per year. Again, each is tragic but that is a remarkably low figure.

Here in Britain in 2005 there were 3201 deaths in road accidents alone.

Another figure worth noting is that there has been over 2000 Taleban killed and many captured in this year alone.

All worth keeping in mind when the left wing media throws out some figures with no context.

Here's a recent report to highlight the point.

KABUL, Afghanistan: NATO-led troops aided by military aircraft killed 15 suspected insurgents in eastern Afghanistan after the militants opened fire on the Western patrol, wounding one soldier, an official said Wednesday.