CNS NEWS– More than 300 U.S.
soldiers have died in the war in Afghanistan
since May 15, 2009, the day
when the first major wave of new troops ordered by President Barack Obama
arrived in the country.
The 308 U.S.
casualties in Afghanistan
since then account for about a third of the total of 920 U.S.
casualties in the eight-year war.
Of the 308 soldiers who have died since mid-May 2009, 287 were
killed by enemy action, according to a CNSNews.com database of
all casualties in the Afghanistan
theatre of war.
The southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar
located along the Afghan border with Pakistan
have been the deadliest regions for U.S.
soldiers since President Obama’s escalation in U.S. forces
in the region began.
Approximately 81 U.S.
soldiers have died in combat in Helmand and 58 in Kandahar,
for a total of 139 in
those two provinces. That is about 45 percent of the U.S. casualties
in Afghanistan since
May 15 of last year.
On Feb. 17, 2009, President
Obama ordered the deployment of 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.
The main body of those troops arrived in Kandahar
on May 15, 2009.
In December 2009, Obama stepped up his surge with 30,000 more troops, bringing
the U.S.
military presence in Afghanistan
to more than 100,000.
Last year was the deadliest for American soldiers since the U.S.-led military
effort in Afghanistan began
in October 2001.
Continue reading about Afghan War Casualties.
© CNS, 2010
Photo by Abby Martin
