U.S. Military Escalation Leads to Record Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan

According to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and a newly released UN report, there were 800 civilian casualties between January and May 2009. Armed clashes between insurgents, the U.S. military, and the ISAF are up 24 percent this year, and have displaced tens of thousands more people. With over 1,000 recorded incidents of violence in May alone, Afghanistan is experiencing the worst security since the war began. And to make matters worse, the UN reported concluded, "The next period will likely experience an increase in the level of violence compared with the same period last year, including complex suicide attacks, intimidation and assassinations carried out by insurgents." That period, unfortunately, coincides with the Afghan presidential and provincial council elections slated for August.

The deadly consequences of militarizing the political crisis in Afghanistan may seem logical, but they're no less disturbing as we see staggering numbers of civilian casualties from this war. Complicating matters is the fact that insurgents have been targeting NGOs and aid workers. In the past six months, there were over 60 security incidents involving NGOs, with many aid workers reported killed or kidnapped. Such violence undercuts the chances of already underfunded humanitarian efforts, and yet the Pentagon has responded with more troops and airstrikes, creating more violence, more casualties, more anti-American sentiment, and the need for even more aid.

U.S. military leaders clearly view the precarious situation in Afghanistan in part as a PR war. That's why they were so quick to blame Taliban militants for the Farah province aistrikes that left up 140 civilians dead. But as Gareth Porter reported last week, the official military investigation of that disastrous attack revealed there were no Taliban fighters killed during second and third B-1 bombings, in which the majority of civilians died. So much for the military's human shield theory.

We can't allow the Pentagon to continue blaming Taliban insurgents when it's obvious that these civilian deaths are primarily the result of current U.S. foreign policy. To help those Afghans whose lives have been shattered by US military operations, contribute to RAWA through the Afghan Women's Mission. And to help change foreign policy to incorporate a more humanitarian approach, sign up to become a Peacemaker.

Comments

[GardenerNorCal]

I think it's time admit that declaring war on Afghanastan was a bad idea. Wasn't it Al Qaeda that took responsibility for the bombings on 9/11 not Afghanastan. Why do the people of Afghanastan and now Pakistan have to suffer? Russia threw everything they had at them. We haven't learned from their mistakes?

[veracity]

exactly. this obama AND HIS NEO-CONS __REFUSE__ to do.

They - obama's goldman-sachs Neo-Cons... are FAR MORE CLOSELY ALLIED to the JOE LIEBERMAN agenda - which is to say, a full heaping helping of the cheney-bus­h-wolfowit­z/kagan/kr­istol/ PNAC "WE CAN INVADE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WE WANT TO.. MERELY by invoking 'NATIONAL SECURITY'" -
- just as a certain German dicator BLAMED POLAND for the GERMAN INVASION OF POLAND in 1939.

It is LONG PAST DUE that Americans STOPPED SITTING ON THEIR SOFAS, watching ENTERTAINMENT garbage TV, while BOTH parties have been TAKEN OVER by the Neo-Cons as "blue-state neo-Confederates", the so-called "What's the Matter with Kansas?" syndrome, whereby the autocratic, corporate/wealthy elites GET AMERICANS to VOTE AGAINST THEIR OWN families' economic SELF-INTEREST, by playing to themes of (race, class, social divide) bigotry, selfishness, & resentment, if not outright hatred.

[roberto8ag]

Obama said in Cairo early this month: "Violence is a dead end."

I recall Tolstoy words about the hypocrisy of liberals.

[diak0n0s]

We should be out but instead this fiasco is escalating.

Why is no one holding the President's feet to the fire??

[kernelofwisdom]

The military will leave as soon as the Commander in Chief orders them too. They were ordered in there by the previous Commander in Chief. It's not like they staged a coup and went on their own. Fighting a war involves the most dangerous weapons used to maximum advantage in an arena of imperfect information. Civilian deaths, horrible casualties, these cannot be avoided, even if attempts are made to minimize them.

I don't know what Obama knows that causes him to carry on with the course set by Bush. Hopefully, it is something that makes this in the end worth doing. War, even in the age of computers, is still hell.

[WorldofTomorrow420]

Carry on? He's escalating the Afghan War big time.

[TheBurdicks]

How many died in Korea?

How many died in VietNam?

How many died in Iraq? How many more will die before we leave?

And now, more of the same in Afghanistan and Pakistan. How many more?

Will we ever learn?

Our way is our way. And even in our country our way isn't all that great.

Why do we continue to think that we can impose our way on others? What good has our belligerent militarism in foreign policy been anywhere in the world since 1945?

[GardenerNorCal]

I don't think we keep very accurate records on what they euphemistically call colateral damage.

As long as some feel more important when oppressing others there will always be war.

I don't think I ever remember voting for using military force to impose our way of government on the rest of the world.

It made the military industrial complex richer.

[Callyson]

Actually, the Pentagon recently restricted the use of airstrikes in Afghanistan:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/world/asia/22airstrikes.html
And while I definitely regret any and all civilian casualties, it is indeed the Taliban who are ultimately responsible for these deaths. This is noted in the UN report that Mr. Heller cites, incidentally: “At least 55 percent of the recorded deaths were attributed to insurgents, 33 percent were caused by international and Afghan forces and 12 percent could not be attributed to any of the warring parties.”
I definitely wish the military had a 100% success rate in Afghanistan, and I regret the failure in Farah. But this tragedy does not excuse the Taliban: it is their aggression in Afghanistan that is causing the instability, and I am glad that President Obama is doing the right thing and standing up against them and for a free Afghanistan.

[Janet Barnes]

Obama, welcome to Vietnam.

Pull out now before it ruins you.

The British and Soviets got their tails handed to them in Afghanistan, we will be no different.

[TJCole]

"The one thing history teaches, is that man learns nothing from history..!"

Hegel...

[Berettasskeeter]

Far more Afghan lives have been disrupted/destroyed by the Taliban, than by US action. I trust your RAWA will also take care of those folks.
I agree that GI's are needed on the ground. But, given the exigencies of the terrain, the use of surveillance/attack drones, and bombers, cannot stop. As a retired Marine, I don't applaud innocent death, but I DO understand it. The Afghans are a pragmatic people, split by regional and tribal differences. By whittling away at the mostly Pakistani Taliban, through pitched battles and through selective bombing, they will have a little more freedom to determine their fates.
Semper fi

[SFA]

victory is for the brave not for some one who keeps counting body bags.
This war is not going to be won by bombing from the air.You need boots on the ground.
Remember the history of Afghanistan it is the graveyard of Empires.I don't see why it's any different for America.
Sorry guys u r on the right ,but u r going to loose.

[Berettasskeeter]

America is an empire? When did I miss all the conquest and annexation? Afghanistan IS a graveyard of empire, but as America is not attempting to conquer Afghanistan, that is probably moot. Russia was attempting to conquer it, as have others for various reasons. America is attempting to help the Afghan people to reach the point where they can determine their own fates.
Semper fi

[TJCole]

This is all because of Bush and Cheney leaving the job undone, their cowardice at Tora Bora, and allowing our real enemies to regroup and now threaten Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal..!

You ain't seen nothing yet, it's gonna get real ugly real quick..

Bush and Cheney should be indicted tried and thrown in Leavenworth Federal Prison...