Monday, June 06, 2011
Soviet versus American casualties in Afghanistan
We've been in Afghanistan for ten years now (2001 to 2011). The Soviets were there for ten years (1979 to 1989). Here is a comparison chart that I made. The Soviet deaths represent those killed in combat. The American deaths represent all deaths in Afghanistan (combat and non-combat).
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7 comments:
I was worried they would be closer. And the US has brought a better living for the Afghan people than that before the invasion, while the Soviets were the ones that messed everything up in the first place!
Credit superior US military medical services for the difference in deaths.. however, it would be more useful to compare the total of deaths + wounded and not returned to combat.
Unfortunately, the colors chart would look a lot closer.
@Walter: I agree. With body armor and medical technology, the number of U.S. troops with amputations (rather than fatal injuries) has skyrocketed. I will see what data I can dig up. Maybe I'll do a chart with Iraq casualties too.
USSR is out of Afghanistan, but US is still there, for how long, who knows...
Yesterday's Kabul by Ilya Varlamov
https://ziyalt.livejournal.com
There are deeper causes than a difference in equipment, tactics or training. Recall that the Soviets were facing an insurgency heavily funded and supported by its Cold War opponent, the US. This was actively and publicly backed by neighbouring Pakistan, the Saudis and so on. In spite of background support from some Pakistanis and others, there is nothing like the same level of international support for the Taliban during the past decade.
@Anon: You are quite right. It is like comparing apples to oranges. But still, both superpowers were there for a decade and I wanted to compare the casualty rates.
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