Thursday 27 October 2011

Partial indication of war casualties

A useful - if incomplete - new report from the US Congressional Research Service on Military and Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan gives a partial indication of the impact of the conflict and offers both US and NATO-compiled statistics. There is no comprehensive collection of stats and the figures in this report come from a number of sources, so cannot be relied on as definitive.
As the CRS report notes: "Because the estimates of Afghan casualties contained in this report are based on varying time periods and have been created using different methodologies, readers should exercise caution when using them and should look to them as guideposts rather than as statements of fact." It should also be noted that statistics on Afghan civilian casualties did not start to be collected until 2007. Nor are there any figures for the number of insurgents killed or wounded.
However, even with these constraints, there is some useful information.
The total numbers of American soldiers killed from 7 October 2001 to 29 September 2011 during Operation Enduring Freedom are as follows:
As a result of Hostile incidents            1,411
As a result of non-hostile incidents        367
Total                                                      1,778

Total number of Wounded in Action  14,239



The annual breakdown for US troops is shown in the following table:
The figures for Coalition troops (below) do not include the numbers of Wounded in Action. 
As for Afghan Civilians, Afghan National and Local Police and Afghan National Army, killed from 2007- August 2011, the figures are as follows:
Afghan Civilians (2007-2011):                  10,757 killed
Afghan National and Local Police:               3,716 killed
Afghan National Army                                1,887  killed    

                                Total                            16,360 killed                      

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