US military deaths surpass 2000 in Afghan war

KABUL has surpassed 2,000, with more than half the deaths coming in the past 27 months.

It took nine years for the US to reach 1,000 dead, but only 27 months to reach the next 1,000, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

The increased casualty rate came after US President Barack Obama sent thousands of extra troops into the country to intensify the US-led NATO coalition’s battle against insurgents.

Those troops are withdrawing, along with their international counterparts, as Afghan forces take increasing security control ahead of a 2014 deadline for foreign combat troops to leave Afghanistan.

The United States military reached 2,000 dead in the nearly 11-year-old conflict after the death of Specialist James A. Justice of the Army at a military hospital in Germany, based on an analysis by the paper’s Department of Defense records.

The calculation by The Times includes deaths not only in Afghanistan but also in Pakistan and other nations where American forces are directly involved in aiding the war.

In the meantime Afghan army and police have also endured a larger number of casualties since the war began in 2001. Statistics dating back to 2007 show more than 6,500 Afghan security forces have been killed.

The United Nations has reported that more than 13,000 Afghan civilians have also died as a result of the conflict since 2007.

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