Pentagon stops releasing Afghan insurgent death toll
In the latest saga of a debate that has been raging since Vietnam, the Pentagon will no longer be releasing figures on how many militants have been killed fighting American forces in Afghanistan.
This move reflects a shift in strategy, similar to what we saw in Iraq, where soldiers are now concentrating on protecting the Afghan people rather than finding and wiping out insurgents. Now the military will only release general estimates. “We send the wrong message if all we talk about is the number of insurgents killed. It doesn’t demonstrate anything about whether we have made progress,” Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, who decided on the new policy, told the Los Angeles Times.
Smith has asked commanders to issue fewer news releases and to focus on improvements in security where international forces are operating, according to the Times.
Throughout the Vietnam War, the American military was notorious for inflating Vietcong bodycounts in an attempt to boost perceptions of success in that conflict.
But the Obama administration must also worry about perceptions of success.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said this month that U.S.-led forces must show progress by next summer to avoid the public perception that the conflict has become unwinnable.
This policy change in the Pentagon comes as the Obama administration is adjusting the U.S. role in Afghanistan. A troop “surge” is expected to boost the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to 68,000 by year’s end.
Read the Los Angeles Times article: U.S. stops giving militant death tolls in Afghanistan