Obama's War: How Afghan Conflict Has Ramped Up In Last Two Years

This story has been updated

NEW YORK -- It was a busy day in Afghanistan: a U.S. airstrike killed at least three people yesterday, including a leader of the Haqqani terrorist network and two other militants in Khost province, according to the Pentagon.

The men were attacked after troops observed several insurgents planting roadside bombs -- the unnamed terrorist leader was reportedly responsible for building and trafficking homemade explosives. In addition, four armed men were killed by security forces who were targeting a Taliban bombmaker in Helmand province, in whose Sangin district several Taliban bomb traffickers were detained and security forces found weapons stockpiles of assault rifles, hand grenades and bomb-making materials.

Today marks the second anniversary of President Barack Obama's first surge of troops into Afghanistan just weeks after taking office, when he authorized the deployment of 17,000 additional forces to the country -- at that point, close to a 50-percent U.S. troop increase. Since then, he has approved several more escalations, and the current total of 97,000 U.S. troops in-country is more than double the number stationed there in 2008.

And dramatic activity on Wednesday crystallized some of the developments in the war since that first surge -- the dramatic rise in U.S. air strikes, the increased use of improvised explosive devices by Taliban and insurgents and the alarming uptick in U.S. troop deaths and Afghan civilian deaths -- amid increasing doubts about the war.

Though some socio-economic measures have improved in the country, from a slightly higher per-capita income to increased school attendance, the small percentage of Afghanis who prefer Taliban rule has more than doubled in the last two years.

The Huffington Post completed a status update of the war in Afghanistan, including conditions in the impoverished country, comparing January 2009 to January 2011. As indicated, some of the statistics reflect available data from the previous year.

	January 2009	January 2011	Percent Change
U.S. Troops	36,000	97,000	+ 169
U.S. Troop Deaths	155 (2008)	499 (2010)	+ 222
Percent of Troop Deaths Due To IEDs	58	81	+ 23
Non-U.S. Troops	31,880	41,983	+ 32
Non-U.S. Troop Deaths	140 (2008)	212 (2010)	+ 51
Afghan Security Forces	170,000	270,000	+ 59
Afghan Civilian Deaths	1,798 (2008)	2,412 (2010)	+ 34
Drone Strikes in Pakistan	33 (2008)	118 (2010)	+ 258
Opium Production (Hectares)	157,000 (2008)	123,000 (2010)	- 22
Per Capita Income	$466 (2008)	$500 (2010)	+ 7
Mobile Phone Use (Percent)	22	40	+ 18
Children In School (Percent)	50	58	+ 8
Afghanis Who View US Presence As Good (Percent)	32	32	0
Afghanis Who Prefer Taliban Rule (Percent)	4	9	+ 5

Comments

[Ipanemagirl]

02:16 PM on 02/19/2011

If the GOP really wanted to fix the deficit, they would agree to stop all wars and bring the troops home, / Also they would agree to cut defense spending and stop giving tax breaks to the wealthy who clearly dont need it./ Having done that, tax deficit would not longer be an issue. But the truth is, they only want to be back in power so their plan is to weaken or destroy the democrats; their plan is to serve the EVIL Koch bros and any corporation willing to back them up with $$$$, with no regard for the average 90% of the americans who they are being paid to serve.!!!! They care not about the pollution and destruction to the environemnt that these corporations are creating and fight against the regulations to keep us safe from them. Same for Walll street, they dont want any regulations to keep us from being exploited by our banks and credit cards. Is this the America people want? Become slaves of the wealthy? I cannot believe people are so blind and are so easily duped by Fox news and their cartoonish characters, Beck, Palin, Coulter, Reilly, Hannity, Maulkin, etc....they are all phonies and have sold their souls out to the devil, to big corporations. Soros is the only hero left.

[SwimUpstream]

05:13 PM on 02/26/2011

Why are you wacking the GOP? The Democrats controlled the House and Senate for 4 stinkin' years and didn't stop the wars or bring the troops home. And Obama gave tax breaks to the wealthy.

As far as the deficit goes -- The federal budget deficit was 1.14% of GDP in 2007 when the Democrats took control of Congress. Four short years later it is now 10.64% of GDP

[mycall8]

10:27 AM on 02/19/2011

I question the numbers put forth that are fictionally fabricated to justify extending this useless and wasteful conflict. Bring our soldiers home NOW stop supporting war and selling weapons NOW

I am mad as hell and I am not going to take this any more !

[SwimUpstream]

05:14 PM on 02/26/2011

We don't have a president with the courage to do the right thing.

[Razpooten]

12:20 AM on 02/19/2011

The lead "....according to the Pentagon." Immediately sets off my BS alarm.
Are we still providing security of China while they exploit copper in Afghanistan? The story fails to mention.
And what is with the faulty math in the percentages table?

[OnAndOnSOH]

08:03 PM on 02/18/2011

"Obama's war" is a media construction. It was embarrassing to watch the talking heads sit around the table, congratulating themselves on their clever creation of this construct.

[joedas]

04:36 PM on 02/18/2011

The title is way off. The two war conflicts, Iraq and Afghanistan were Bush's revenge excuses. There were no Iraqi terrorists involved in 9/11, and dead or alive bounty for bin Laden never worked.

What did work and unfortunately for America was the rise of AlQueda which was created by the invasion of a peaceful Iraq country; and the beginnings of Al Queda in Afghanistan where none existed before. Apparently Bush's plans were not well thought out and did not figure on Al Queda resulting in the hatred towards the US. The world situation today began with Bush and it was difficult to change for his successor.

[Dennis Scarla]

11:25 AM on 02/18/2011

Very eye-opening article...Important that it be broadcast widely. Please check the "Percent change" calculations, however, for accuracy. "Mobile Phone Use," "Children In School," 'Afghanis Who View US Presence As Good," "Afghanis Who Prefer Taliban Rule" are not calculated the same as all the other categories have been calculated. If done similarly, they would be calculated by subtracting the increased number, (2011-2010)/2010=Percent change, as opposed to the mere difference in percentage by year. For example: "Afghanis Who Prefer Taliban Rule" 2010 was 4%, 2011 is 9%. 9%-4%=5%. 5% divided by 4% = 125%, not 5%.

[corte33]

11:09 AM on 02/18/2011

Obama, as usual, is clueless. Maybe he thinks this war is a stimulus.

[68Namvet]

12:23 PM on 02/18/2011

You mean like his predecessor did? Turns out it was a stimulus for Cheney's old firm and the rest of the no contract crowd, Haliburton, Kellog, Blackwater, etc..

[Razpooten]

12:16 AM on 02/19/2011

It is; for the US industrial-military complex.

[PeterBright]

11:07 AM on 02/18/2011

Our entry into Afganistan has been an expensive folly. To have lost one American military member is a tragedy, to have lost many hundred dead, thousands wounded and/or permanently maimed, tens of thousands displaced from their families on repetitive "tours" is unconscionable.

Afganistan needs to deal with what Afganistan wants, or does not want politically, militarilly, or socially without our involvement.

Thirty years ago the Soviets made their mistake there. After years of losing lives, material and rubles, they finally read the writing in the sand and got the Hell out of there.

We're there because the US Industrial-Military Complex has some warped sense of gain for the power and money mongers under the guise of "stopping the Taliban".

Meanwhile for the last decade that fiasco, combined with the one in Iraq, has managed to depleat our Treasury, issue red ink to our entire national bottom line, exhaust and demoralize much of our military, and flood the Veterans Administration with tens of thousands of PTSD-Strung out former soldiers who may never fully recover from battle injuries and/or fatigue. All that and the real situation on the ground in Afganistan is pretty much as it was before we entered the country.

There's a lot more going on here than "stop the Taliban".

The enemy is the power-money mongers within our borders who line their pockets while everybody else suffers. Like Vietnam, it's a lie that has us there. Bring our troops home, NOW.
Peter Bright

[April22]

10:19 AM on 02/18/2011

Why haven't we heard more about the U.S. Army's scanning the fingertips and irises of the Afghanis?

The Army claims this gives them a heads-up as to who comes and goes within the country and they are more able to weed out the bad elements.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/27/us-army-biometric-data-afghanistan

Just amazing the human rights violations our country indulges in around the world and in our name.

Is this practice for what is to come sometime in the futrue here at home and under the heading of national security?

[CapeJack]

04:38 PM on 02/18/2011

Iris scans have been in use at many airports for some time now, including in the Netherlands, UK, UAE, US and Canada.

It's too bad our liberty and freedom has to be diminished in some ways. But if such technology keeps a suspected terrorist off the plane I'm booked on, I'm all for it.

[Whitemellon]

09:24 AM on 02/18/2011

Let's get one thing strait. Both the Republicans and Democratic leadership are bought off and are letting their friends rob the treasury. Wake up America.

[April22]

10:20 AM on 02/18/2011

And that's not all.

[corte33]

11:10 AM on 02/18/2011

Maybe the Tea Party should get involved here. Lots of people getting killed for nothing.

[freegeg]

09:19 AM on 02/18/2011

It is time for a regime change. Mubarak Obama must go1!!!!

[April22]

10:22 AM on 02/18/2011

As in Egypt, which sparked a revolution, and here at home in Wisconsin, so, too, in Yemen are labor disputes and poverty sending people into the streets. This is sweeping the globe.

[okakura]

05:19 PM on 02/18/2011

Ludicrous-Comparison-Of-The-Month nominee.

Congratulations!

[saintpeterii]

09:19 AM on 02/18/2011

Isn't it important to add the numbers of private military contractors to the troop numbers? The presence of PMC's should never be overlooked and if you don't believe that read a Pakistani newspaper and meet Mr Davis the only diplomat with only a high school diploma. Why one might ask are those folks in the Fletcher School wasting their time studying diplomacy if only a high school degree is now required. Citizen Editorial Cartoons, Private Military Contractors aka Mercenaries at http://www.saintpeterii.com/blog/?p=417

[April22]

10:27 AM on 02/18/2011

What? And inform the American populace as to what may really be going on in the Middle East?

Diplomacy is a matter of training one in one train of thought, here in America. The old adage of you are either with us or against us seems to be the motto.

The question is what are we building? Democracy or corporate empire?

[corte33]

11:12 AM on 02/18/2011

Democracy is a joke in America. It's all about money and power. Screw the voters.

[Ipanemagirl]

02:31 PM on 02/19/2011

the republicans are really working towards making us a corporate empire. we will all become slaves to the rich and powerful and have no power against their policies, , because with Citizens United , a supreme court decision ruling have enabled , corporations to buy politicians with endless amounts of undisclosed contributions , that nobody can compete with. Citizens United should be repealed in order to ensure that we remain a democratic country. It is totally against our democratic process, and we end up a plutocracy, of rich people in power. How is that OK with american citizens???? Or dont they even know that this has happened? Uninformed and misinformed as most are , watching fox news.

[smahl]

08:18 AM on 02/18/2011

Time to End THE WARS this nobal winner IS A WAR PRES. lets all stop hiding that fact and work to STOP THE WARS

[DMDAY44]

08:27 AM on 02/18/2011

What'cha bitchin' about? Obama's the great foreign policy genius who was going to make the world love us with all this diplomatic oral s*x!

[CapeJack]

04:42 PM on 02/18/2011

I thought that was supposed to be Joe Biden's strong suit - when arguments were made about Obama's lack of foreign policy experience, he named Joe B his running mate to put an end to it.

[Dawn Castle]

08:16 AM on 02/18/2011

our efforts should have been in afghanistan from the beginning rather than spending all our time in iraq which was a useless measure. another bush mess to be cleaned up

[brian farms]

07:48 AM on 02/18/2011

Under Bush Afghanistan was labeled a "tragic and unnecessary war."

Under Obama H P labels it a cute little "conflict."

No bias here.

[smahl]

08:19 AM on 02/18/2011

BOTH were are war presidents and Both need to be labeled as such STOP the WARS

[Ukridge]

09:42 AM on 02/18/2011

There is a difference. The Afghans, as one can see above, do not want the Taliban back, especially, even desperately, the women and minorities,

[thereisonlyoneparty]

03:47 AM on 02/20/2011

That is a recent phenomenon.

And it dealt more with the gradual aversion to violent tactics.  If you look historically you will find much higher levels of support in and beyond Afghanistan.  A lot of it had to do with a desire to return to normalcy and a belief that curing social ills would bring peace.  People stopped supporting the Taliban when it became viewed as causing violence.  The same thing happened to bin Laden.  He had lots of support until he took credit for the 9.11 bombings in 2004.