Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

A few days ago, someone here asked about the idea of an Afghanistan Body Count. Unfortunately, no one seems to have any current figures on the number of civilians killed and wounded in Afghanistan during the current war there. I imagine it would take quite a bit of effort to get a such a body count together, requiring the labor of a professional, or of someone with a lot of time on their hands.

There is, however, a regularly updated report on the number of American deaths and woundings in Afghanistan. Of course, it’s given by the Pentagon, so take it with a grain of salt.

The latest numbers are:
409 American deaths
1428 Americans wounded

Of course, these statistics are about eight days old now. Two more American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan just yesterday, perhaps more today. As the war in Afghanistan has continued, the rate of American deaths and woundings has been increasing, not decreasing. Afghanistan looks to be sliding toward something more like the violent chaos in Iraq.