Last year was the deadliest on record for civilians in the Afghan war, with 3,021 killed, according to the United Nations. Taliban-affiliated militants were responsible for more than three-quarters of those deaths.
The Taliban have launched several large-scale attacks in recent weeks, including coordinated attacks on Kabul and three other cities that left 11 people and 36 insurgents dead, and a strike on a compound used by foreigners in the Afghan capital that killed seven.
The uptick in violence comes as NATO gears up to hand over security to local forces ahead of a 2014 deadline for the withdrawal of foreign combat troops. Some have questioned if local forces will be up to the task.
The U.S.-led coalition has also started its own campaign aimed at insurgents and is thought to have launched a number of operations in the eastern part of Afghanistan near the Pakistani border. The operations, in provinces such as Ghazni, are also aimed at chocking the insurgents ability to reach Kabul.
I say we're told because of three interesting facts in the quoted section.
One, 3,000 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year. More than any other year. This is apparently more evidence that the Taliban are stronger than ever, as some news holds. That's hogwash. The Taliban certainly have a floor we can't pound them below because of their Pakistan sanctuary, but we've hammered them and they aren't that tough to defeat, really. Consider that during the height of the Iraq War, more Iraqi civilians (in a similarly sized country) could die in a single month of death squads and suicide bombings. This is simply not evidence that events are spinning out of control.
Two, the Taliban had to announce their offensive to make sure the press noticed it. It started with "large-scale" attacks that left 11 people and 36 insurgents dead. I think the first American LCT to lower its ramp on Omaha beach accounted for more casualties than that in the first 30 seconds of D-Day.
Third, even though President Obama has said we can now focus on nation-building at home because the war in Afghanistan is ending, we apparently are going on offense, because we are "thought to have launched a number of operations" in the east. I thought our long-telegraphed offensive in Regional Command East must have begun based on the uptick in casualties last month. But perhaps we can't say because on paper we are transitioning to the post-war even as our troops fight and die in a war-that-is-no-longer-a-war. Instead of "mission accomplished" it is now "mission? What mission?"
The indications are subtle, to be sure. But the war continues.
Although the mis-match between what our president asserts about moving past the war and the reality of our troops bleeding and dying in distant places may not help our troop morale much.
