President Barack Obama has not yet served three full years as commander in chief, but the number of U.S. casualties in the 10-year-old Afghanistan war has now tripled since Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009.
On that day, the total casualty count for the then-7-year-old Afghan war was 569. As of Sept. 30 of this year, it was 1,698. The 1,129 additional U.S. casualties in Afghanistan since Obama took office equals 66.5 percent of all U.S. casualties there for the duration of the war. With three months still to go, 2011 is already the second deadliest year of the war.
From January through September 2011, 340 U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan--only 22 fewer than the 362 who were killed during the same span in 2010, which was the deadliest year so far for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
The top three deadliest years of the war -- 2010 (497 deaths), 2011 (340), 2009 (303) -- have occurred under President Obama’s tenure.
At least 38 U.S. troops died in Afghanistan in September, making last month the second deadliest September of the war, exceeded only by September 2010, when 42 Americans died.
August 2011 was the deadliest month of the conflict, according to CNSNews.com’s tally. Seventy-one U.S. troops died in August, including 30 on a helicopter that was shot down by insurgents on August 6.
Read more at CNSNews.com.
