RT
November 9, 2013
As US military forces prepare to make a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan new figures reveal that nearly 80 percent more Afghan security forces were killed in the summer of 2013, compared to 2012, while the Afghan army experienced a 34% attrition rate.
A report from the Department of Defense made public Friday revealed that the number of Afghans killed each week surpassed more than 100 earlier this year. US officials, while refusing to release the figures these percentages are based on, also said that combat deaths among American and coalition troops fell by almost 60 percent over the same time.
Along with combat deaths, the one other startling figure included in the report is the nearly 35% attrition rate for the Afghan military over a one-year period, representing the loss of over 67 thousand troops. According to the DoD’s official figures those losses appear to have been covered by ongoing recruitment.
US military officials described the change in reported combat deaths as a “fundamental shift” and proof that the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) now provide more security for their own nation than the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
“The ANSF now conduct 95 percent of conventional operations and 98 percent of special operations in Afghanistan,” the report states. “The only unilateral operations that ISAF continues to conduct are ISAF force protection, route clearance, and redeployment…ANSF casualties have increased by 79 percent this reporting period compared to the same period last year, while ISAF casualties have dropped by 59 percent.”
The report was careful to mention that the high casualty rate, along with Afghans’ limited ability to help their wounded forces, “adversely affects morale, retention and recruiting.”