What are the methods of underestimating the US losses in Afghanistan

The army of any country is interested in the fact that information about the number of soldiers and officers killed in military conflicts was understated.

Real data on the victims can adversely affect the moral atmosphere in society, provoke pacifist sentiments, encourage a large number of young people to refuse to serve in the armed forces (especially if the equipment is carried out under the contract system), trigger anti-government sentiments and mass expressions of discontent. In addition, representatives of the high command want to look like qualified military commanders, able to win little blood.

In those years when the Soviet Army was fighting in Afghanistan, the country's leadership solved the problem of stealth losses simply: they were not reported. Citizens of the USSR judged the number of deaths reported by the radio stations "Voice of America", "BBC", "Deutsche Welle" and similar news agencies, which, in turn, were interested in creating dissatisfaction with the existing order and aspired to overstate this data.

The American administration is in a more difficult situation. The US losses in Afghanistan are growing, keeping them is not easy, therefore the army leadership is forced to invent new technologies for concealing the real picture.

To begin with, military personnel who have signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense in the hope of obtaining citizenship are excluded from the statistics. If an inhabitant of Puerto Rico, for example, wants to become an American, then one of the ways to achieve this goal can be an army service. Wearing a sand-colored camouflage with a "US Army" patch over his left breast pocket, this guy has every chance of getting into the "hot spot". Chances to die at it a little bit more, than at other soldiers, at least for the reason that he often does not speak English well and understands only the basic commands. Foreigners currently account for about 60% of all "gee-ay". Counting the US losses in Afghanistan, they are not taken into account.

The second way to hide the real picture is to hide the number of seriously wounded people who died in hospitals. Modern ammunition (Kevlar vests and helmets) protect vital organs, but to save a person from contusions (whose consequences are terrible), mutilation and blood loss they can not. The US losses in Afghanistan are taken into account only by those who died directly on the battlefield. If the soldier died in a hospital bed, then he is considered "dead."

There is another trick to create a relatively prosperous picture. Even during maneuvers, there is a statistical percentage of deaths of servicemen due to equipment failure, traffic accidents or the careless handling of weapons. The US losses in Afghanistan are taken into account only those killed during combat operations. It is understood that accidents can occur in peacetime. In certain periods, the number of such deaths is several times greater than the number of those killed in combat.

Despite the a priori technical superiority, the US Army in Afghanistan is suffering heavy losses. And the reason for this is not at all "the age-long striving of the proud people for freedom." The situation there is indeed very complicated. Up to three quarters of the world's volume of opium produced is supplied from this country. After the introduction of the coalition troops into the country, the profits from this criminal activity did not diminish.

Today, it is difficult to comprehensively assess the overall US losses in Afghanistan. 2013 has not yet ended, but it is already clear that the trend is catastrophic, and the withdrawal of troops is planned only in late 2014. According to official figures, the number of Americans killed in this unpromising war exceeded 2,000, and over 18,000 were injured and injured.