[Peace-discuss] This to stop terrorism?

[Robert Naiman]

The lead paragraph is factually incorrect. Reuters has been contacted,
and I expect them to run a correction.

>>> KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The number of American soldiers killed in
>>> Afghanistan has reached 1,000, an independent website said on Tuesday, a
>>> grim reminder that eight years of fighting has failed to defeat Taliban
>>> insurgents.

On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 4:07 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu> wrote:
> Given that there's one US war in the Mideast - not two, three, or more -
> this may be a better way of reporting it.  It makes clear that there is one
> cause for US invasion and occupation from Palestine to Pakistan, not many.
>
> The Obama administration occasionally distinguishes "theaters" in what the
> Pentagon calls the Long War, and that may be an appropriate way to do it.
> Military operations by Japan and Germany in the 1930s and 40s, spread over
> various theatres, could reasonably be compared with continuing US operations
> over a longer period of time.
>
>
> Robert Naiman wrote:
>>
>> This Reuters report was wrong. The 1000 number on icasualties.org is
>> all "operation enduring freedom," including the Horn of Africa and the
>> Philippines. The correct number for Afghanistan right now is more like
>> 930.
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 3:44 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>       U.S. death toll in Afghanistan hits 1,000: website
>>>       Michael Georgy
>>>       KABUL, Afghanistan
>>>       Tue Feb 23, 2010 2:10am EST
>>>
>>> KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The number of American soldiers killed in
>>> Afghanistan has reached 1,000, an independent website said on Tuesday, a
>>> grim reminder that eight years of fighting has failed to defeat Taliban
>>> insurgents.
>>>
>>> Icasualties.org said 54 U.S. troops were killed this year in Afghanistan,
>>> raising the casualties to 1,000, compared to eight in Iraq, where the
>>> total
>>> has reached 4,378. The rise to 1,000 dead coincides with one of the
>>> biggest
>>> offensives against the Taliban, a NATO-led assault in the Marjah district
>>> of
>>> Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province.
>>>
>>> The operation is an early test of U.S. President Barack Obama's troop
>>> surge
>>> strategy aimed as wresting control of Taliban bastions and handing them
>>> over
>>> to Afghan authorities before the start of a gradual U.S. troop withdrawal
>>> in
>>> 2011.
>>>
>>> Afghanistan is high on Obama's foreign policy agenda and more American
>>> casualties or a military campaign that fails to bring stability to the
>>> country could harm his presidency.
>>>
>>> Violence is at its highest level since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban.
>>> Last
>>> year was the deadliest of the war for civilians and foreign troops.
>>>
>>> Marjah is a prime example of the challenge facing U.S. troops and their
>>> NATO
>>> allies. They have taken over key areas, but still face pockets of stiff
>>> resistance from the Taliban, who have littered roads with hidden bombs.
>>>
>>> The success of the operation hinges on whether they can keep Taliban
>>> fighters from re-capturing their stronghold and ensure Afghan forces can
>>> secure the area on their own.
>>>
>>> Ultimately Marjah can only be stable once the local government provides
>>> enough jobs and economic opportunities to keep the local population on
>>> its
>>> side, eradicating conditions that breed militancy, analysts say.
>>>
>>> Obama announced in December he was adding 30,000 more U.S. troops to the
>>> Afghan war effort. He hopes to start bringing U.S. troops home from
>>> Afghanistan in the middle of 2011.
>>>
>>> (Editing by Bryson Hull and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
>>>
>>> --
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>>
>>
>>
>



-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org

Change.org: End the war in Afghanistan
Timeline for Withdrawal and Political Negotiations
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/end_the_war_in_afghanistan_establish_a_timeline_for_withdrawal_and_begin_political_negotiations

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