An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier is seen through damaged glass as he keeps watch at the Forward Base in Nari district near the army outpost in Kunar province, Feb. 24, 2014
Despite Massive Taliban Death Toll No Drop in Insurgency -- Voice of America
WASHINGTON — Afghan police and army units are killing an average of 12 Taliban fighters every day but according to experts the high death toll is having little effect on Taliban recruitment efforts or the group’s ability to stage attacks.
Fighting that led to the initial collapse of the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in late 2001 did not come with heavy casualties, but now 13 years later, as the U.S. is set to end its combat mission the Taliban casualty rate has skyrocketed.
As they take the lead in the war effort, Afghan army and police killed over 720 Taliban insurgents in January-February 2014, according to official news releases compiled by VOA Dari Service.
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My Comment: This number of 720 insurgents being killed in January-February 2014 is surprising because fighting (and the corresponding death toll) usually decreases during the winter season. One can only imagine what the death toll will be when the fighting resumes .... at the end of April (when the opium harvest is in).
1 comment:
The meaningless "body count" measure has been resurrected from Vietnam. Effectiveness in counter-insurgency has better measures of success.
FM 3-24: (Petraeus's famous work)
DEVELOPING MEASUREMENT CRITERIA
5-91. Assessment requires determining why and when progress is being achieved . . . Traditionally, commanders use discrete quantitative and qualitative measurements . . . However, the complex nature of COIN operations makes progress difficult to measure. Subjective assessment at all levels is essential to understand the diverse and complex nature of COIN problems. It is also needed to measure local success or failure against the overall operation’s end state. . . .
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