nhboy
Ubi bene ibi patria
Link to original article.
"For the past month, the U.S. military has experienced something not seen for five years in Afghanistan: No combat deaths.
Three U.S. troops have died from hostile fire injuries since Jan. 1, and one of them succumbed to wounds sustained in December.
The trend marks the longest period without a U.S. combat death in America's longest war since 2008, and clearly reflects a strategy shift that leaves much of the fighting to Afghan security forces, whose deaths are going up.
Afghans now lead more than 80% of combat operations and control areas covering more than three-quarters of the population, according to U.S. military officials.
The U.S. military has pulled back from direct combat operations into the less dangerous role of advising and assisting Afghan forces.
American military officials said a cut in the number of American forces is another reason for the decline.
There were about 100,000 forces in Afghanistan during the peak of the military's troop surge. But that number fell by almost 40 percent when the last of those troops left in September and remains at about that level today.
Attacks by Taliban insurgents also have declined, officials have said.
Just as the U.S. toll has dropped, Afghan security force deaths have risen sharply.
"The Taliban are targeting the Afghan Army and police to try and show the populous the Afghan Security Forces cannot adequately protect them," said Col. David Lapan, spokesman for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."
"For the past month, the U.S. military has experienced something not seen for five years in Afghanistan: No combat deaths.
Three U.S. troops have died from hostile fire injuries since Jan. 1, and one of them succumbed to wounds sustained in December.
The trend marks the longest period without a U.S. combat death in America's longest war since 2008, and clearly reflects a strategy shift that leaves much of the fighting to Afghan security forces, whose deaths are going up.
Afghans now lead more than 80% of combat operations and control areas covering more than three-quarters of the population, according to U.S. military officials.
The U.S. military has pulled back from direct combat operations into the less dangerous role of advising and assisting Afghan forces.
American military officials said a cut in the number of American forces is another reason for the decline.
There were about 100,000 forces in Afghanistan during the peak of the military's troop surge. But that number fell by almost 40 percent when the last of those troops left in September and remains at about that level today.
Attacks by Taliban insurgents also have declined, officials have said.
Just as the U.S. toll has dropped, Afghan security force deaths have risen sharply.
"The Taliban are targeting the Afghan Army and police to try and show the populous the Afghan Security Forces cannot adequately protect them," said Col. David Lapan, spokesman for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."