2 Months Into 2009, US Deaths Spike In Afghanistan

U.S. Army soldiers exit a CH-47 Chinook helicopter to provide security in Bagram, Afghanistan, Feb. 15, 2009. The soldiers are assigned to the 101st Airborne Division's Company A, Personnel Security Detail. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Prentice C. Martin-Bowen

From Yahoo News/AP:

KABUL – U.S. deaths in Afghanistan increased threefold during the first two months of 2009 compared with the same period last year, after thousands more troops deployed and commanders ramped up winter operations against an increasingly violent insurgency.

As troops pour into the country and violence rises, another sobering measure has also increased: More Afghan civilians are dying in U.S. and allied operations than at the hands of the Taliban, according to a count by The Associated Press. In the first two months of the year, U.S., NATO or Afghan forces have killed 100 civilians, while militants have killed 60.

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My Comment: With a surge of U.S. troops being prepared to enter the country, and with the Taliban now focused on expanding the war in Afghanistan, these casualties are only going to rise.