WASHINGTON: Afghan troops are dying on the battlefield in unprecedented numbers after having taken over from Nato-led forces, and the death toll is “not sustainable,” a top US commander in Afghanistan said yesterday.
Afghan army and police have suffered a 6.5 percent spike in casualties this year, with 4,634 killed in combat in 2014, compared to 4,350 killed for all of 2013, said Lieutenant General Joseph Anderson, the number two ranking US officer in Afghanistan.
Afghan forces are being outfitted with more protective gear and adopting more effective tactics to counter roadside bombs planted by Taliban insurgents, “but they do need to decrease their casualty rate,” Anderson told reporters via video link from Kabul.
The Kabul government’s forces had improved their emergency medical care for wounded soldiers but there was more work to be done as the current casualty rate was untenable, he said.
“All those things have to continue to improve to reduce those numbers, because those numbers are not sustainable in the long term,” he said.
The general, head of the International Security Assistance Force joint command, added that the casualty numbers had been expected to rise with Afghan forces now fully in charge of security and Nato combat forces rapidly scaling back.
“We expected that (death toll) actually to be much higher based on the role they’ve played and where they’ve been,” Anderson said.
AFP
