US Death Toll in Afghanistan Reaches 2,000
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U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Dexter S. Saulisbury(NEW YORK) — It’s very possible that the 2,000th U.S. service member to die in the war in Afghanistan did so at the hands of an Afghan soldier.
The New York Times reports that the death toll of American forces reached 2,000 late last week at a time when “insider” attacks were taking the lives of U.S. soldiers.
According to the Times analysis, over half of the U.S. fatalities in Afghanistan occurred during the past 27 months. That’s the period that President Obama ordered troop levels bolstered from 67,000 to 100,000 to combat a resurgent Taliban.
However, the Pentagon began a gradual withdrawal of forces late last year that has returned numbers to the pre-surge levels. The eventual plan is to withdraw all American and NATO troops by sometime in 2014.
While the total number of coalition deaths in the 11-year war exceeds 3,100, Afghans have suffered the majority of the conflict’s fatalities.
Afghan security forces have lost 6,500 members since 2001, while the number of civilian deaths exceeds 13,000. There are no figures for enemy dead.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio