Pentagon stops releasing Afghan insurgent death toll
July 24th, 2009
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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.