Suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan war vets may exceed combat deaths.
Suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan war vets may exceed combat deaths.
Thomas Insel — director of the National Institute of Mental Health and the U.S. government’s top psychiatric researcher — said today that “the number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care.” Bloomberg reports:
Insel echoed a Rand Corporation study published last month that found about 20 percent of returning U.S. soldiers have post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, and only half of them receive treatment. About 1.6 million U.S. troops have fought in the two wars since October 2001, the report said. About 4,560 soldiers had died in the conflicts as of today, the Defense Department reported on its Web site.
Based on those figures and established suicide rates for similar patients who commonly develop substance abuse and other complications of post-traumatic stress disorder, “it’s quite possible that the suicides and psychiatric mortality of this war could trump the combat deaths,” Insel said.
Pentagon may deploy 7,000 troops to Afghanistan.
Pentagon may deploy 7,000 troops to Afghanistan.
The New York Times reports today that the Pentagon is “considering sending as many as 7,000 more American troops to Afghanistan next year to make up for a shortfall in contributions from NATO allies.” One official referred to it as the “re-Americanization” of the war:
They said the step would push the number of American forces there to roughly 40,000, the highest level since the war began more than six years ago, and would require at least a modest reduction in troops from Iraq.
The planning began in recent weeks, reflecting a growing resignation to the fact that NATO is unable or unwilling to contribute more troops despite public pledges of an intensified effort in Afghanistan from the presidents and prime ministers who attended an alliance summit meeting in Bucharest, Romania, last month.
In February, when lobbying NATO countries to pledge more forces to Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates observed, “Many of them, I think, have a problem with our involvement in Iraq and project that to Afghanistan.”
Soldier on his seventh tour dies in Afghanistan.
Soldier on his seventh tour dies in Afghanistan.
Sgt. 1st Class David L. McDowell, 30, of Ramona, California died Tuesday in Afghanistan of “wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked using small arms fires.” The San Diego Tribune reports, “He had been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq seven times and was a recipient of two Bronze stars and a Purple Heart.”
Toby Keith performance interrupted by mortar fire in Afghanistan.
Toby Keith performance interrupted by mortar fire in Afghanistan.
“Country music star Toby Keith had a performance in Afghanistan last week interrupted by mortar fire, according to his booking agent. Curt Motley, the agent, told The Oklahoman in an e-mail that the 46-year-old Keith was playing his song ‘Weed With Willie’ for troops during a USO Tour stop at a base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Thursday when mortar fire sent the singer and most of the about 2,500 soldiers in the crowd scrambling for shelter.”
One Day After Bush Says We’re ‘Winning’ In Afghanistan, State Dept. Says al Qaeda Is ‘Stronger’
One Day After Bush Says We’re ‘Winning’ In Afghanistan, State Dept. Says al Qaeda Is ‘Stronger’
This week, President Hamid Karzai was the subject of an attempted assassination plot, allegedly launched by the Taliban, which narrowly escaped. In a Rose Garden press conference yesterday, ABC’s Martha Raddatz asked Bush to comment on the status of Afghanistan in light of the assassination plot:
RADDATZ: Are we winning in Afghanistan?
BUSH: I think we’re making progress in Afghanistan […]
Q: But do you think we’re winning? Do you think we’re winning?
BUSH: I do, I think we’re making good progress. I do, yes.
Watch it:
In contrast, today, the State Department released its annual Country Reports on Terrorism. The opening lines of the report are a stark departure from Bush’s blind optimism:
Al-Qa’ida (AQ) and associated networks remained the greatest terrorist threat to the United States and its partners in 2007. It has reconstituted some of its pre-9/11 operational capabilities through the exploitation of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), replacement of captured or killed operational lieutenants, and the restoration of some central control by its top leadership, in particular Ayman al-Zawahiri.
In Afghanistan and surrounding areas, State Department notes, al Qaeda now has “greater mobility” in the region:
Despite the efforts of both Afghan and Pakistani security forces, instability, coupled with the Islamabad brokered cease-fire agreement in effect for the first half of 2007 along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier, appeared to have provided AQ leadership greater mobility and ability to conduct training and operational planning, particularly that targeting Western Europe and the United States. … AQ leaders continued to plot attacks and to cultivate stronger operational connections that radiated outward from Pakistan to affiliates throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.
The report also notes that terrorist attacks in Afghanistan increased 16 percent last year, which was the bloodiest year in Afghanistan since 2001. Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, who commands U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said last week, “This year won’t be different.”
Afghanistan insurgency may be spreading north.
Afghanistan insurgency may be spreading north.
“The attempted assassination of President Hamid Karzai Sunday came as the latest sign of a trend” that the insurgency in Afghanistan “is spreading from the Taliban stronghold of the south to the central and northern regions of the country,” Christian Science Monitor reports. The attack on Karzai was the “biggest in Kabul since mid-March”:
A recent study by Sami Kovanen, an analyst with the security firm Vigilant Strategic Services of Afghanistan, echoed this assessment. He reported 465 insurgent attacks in areas outside the restive southern regions during the first three months of 2008, a 35 percent increase compared with the same period last year. In the central region around Kabul there have been 80 insurgent attacks from January through March of this year, a 70 percent jump compared to the first three months of last year.
State Department has only two Pashto speakers in Afghanistan.
State Department has only two Pashto speakers in Afghanistan.
Spencer Ackerman notes that during a State Department-sponsored conference today, department Counselor Eliot A. Cohen reported some unsettling news: The department has only two Pashto speakers currently in Afghanistan. Pashto is an official language in Afghanistan and spoken by roughly 35 percent of the population. Ackerman adds, “C’est la vie. Not like there’s a war on in Afghanistan or anything.”
Perino: Securing Afghanistan is ‘damn hard work.’
Perino: Securing Afghanistan is ‘damn hard work.’
During today’s press briefing, White House press secretary Dana Perino was asked about yesterday’s assassination attempt on Afghan president Hamid Karzai. She said she was “frustrated” by the fact that Afghan security forces weren’t getting the credit they deserved, adding that it’s “damn hard work” protecting against terrorist attacks:
Look, we have to be right every single time in order to prevent terrorist attacks. It is damn hard work. And I shouldn’t have probably said that word, but I am just really frustrated of thinking about how hard these Afghan security forces work and how much they are up against and how we have a responsibility to continue to stay there and help them.
Watch it:
Add “securing Afghanistan” to the Bush administration’s extensive list of failures it excuses away by calling it “hard work.”
McCain: Afghanistan’s Troubles Are Unrelated To ‘Our Diversion To Iraq’
McCain: Afghanistan’s Troubles Are Unrelated To ‘Our Diversion To Iraq’
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appeared on ABC’s The View this morning. He discussed his “mistake” of opposing a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., and said, “If we are wrong on a position, we then should admit it.” But when Joy Behar asked whether he would admit that the Iraq invasion was a mistake, McCain answered flatly, “No”:
BEHAR: Do you admit now that it was a mistake to go into Iraq?
MCCAIN: No. … The problem was not the fact that we went in, to be honest with you. The problem was the mishandling of it for nearly four years. If we had done the right thing from the beginning –
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: We would have been in Afghanistan.
MCCAIN: But Afghanistan is not in trouble because of our diversion to Iraq.
BARBARA WALERS: Why do people think it is, that we don’t have the troops there that we need?
MCCAIN: I know a lot of people think that and we do need more troops there.
Watch it:
In fact, the U.S. commitment to Iraq has continually drained resources from the fight in Afghanistan. Appearing on PBS’ Newshour in January, former CentCom Commander William Fallon pointed to Iraq to explain the resurgence of the Taliban in 2007 — the deadliest year for U.S. soldiers there:
Well, back in 2001, early 2002, the Taliban were pretty much vanquished. And I wasn’t over there during the intervening years. But my sense of looking back is that we moved focus to Iraq, which was the priority from 2003 on, and the attention and the resources focused on a different place. There’s been some resurgence in the Taliban. This is a country — Afghanistan needs a lot of work in the business of rebuilding itself.
The strain on the troops created by the war in Iraq has clearly left fewer resources for the fight in Afghanistan. Last week, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody insisted that the “Army is out of balance” and that the “current demand for our forces… exceeds the sustainable supply.”
Before leaving, McCain assured the women of The View that, as president, he would “get” Osama bin Laden “and bring him to justice.” Apparently McCain is overlooking the fact that the reason bin Laden is still on the loose is because the fight in Iraq diverted attention from perusing the terrorist leader in Afghanistan.
With the bulk of our ground forces deployed to Iraq, we've been unable to prepare for or deploy for other contingencies in other places. We are not training to full spectrum capabilities. We are not engaging sufficiently with partner militaries. And we cannot now meet extra force requirements in places like Afghanistan.
‘Most violent year’ in Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan is currently suffering its most violent year since the 2001 U.S.-led intervention, according to an internal United Nations report that sharply contrasts with recent upbeat appraisals by President Bush and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai.” There were 525 security attacks on average every month during the first half of this year, up from an average of 425 incidents per month in 2006. Tomorrow, ThinkProgress will discuss this and other related issues with Said Tayeb Jawad, the Afghanistan Ambassador to the U.S. If you have questions you’d like us to ask him, please let us know in the comments section.