Surge Fails to Curb Afghan Civilian Deaths (Civilian Deaths at Record High)

[tekisui]

Source: Marine Times

More than a year after the Obama administration sent tens of thousands of extra U.S. troops into Afghanistan, a population-centered counterinsurgency approach has failed to bring down civilian casualties in the drastic way that the troop surge in Iraq did, United Nations data show.

The dispersed nature of the violence in rugged, largely rural Afghanistan is complicating efforts to blunt the attacks that are killing civilians, much more so than in Iraq, according to military officials and analysts.

The U.N. released its mid-year report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan on Thursday. Observers found that civilian deaths were up by 15 percent in the first half of this year compared to the same time last year, with anti-government forces responsible for 80 percent of those deaths.

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In fact, the U.N. reported in June that Afghan civilian casualties in May were the highest on record at 368 — more than twice the number killed in May 2010, and almost 100 more than in May 2009. Observers tallied 1,462 civilian deaths in the first six months of 2011.

more: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2011/07/military-afghan-surge-civilian-deaths-071411w/