Monday, January 05, 2009, (Kabul)
The Taliban claims to have killed more than 5,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan last year--a figure nearly 20 times the official death toll.
The Taliban has long exaggerated its military successes, but its year-end numbers--posted last week on its Web site--may be the militia's most startling claim yet in the war of information.
In addition to claims it killed 5,220 foreign troops, the insurgents said they downed 31 aircraft last year. Its fighters destroyed 2,818 NATO and Afghan vehicles and killed 7,552 Afghan soldiers and police, according to a statement from a spokesman.
The true damage inflicted on U.S. and NATO fighters over the last year has been "repeatedly hidden by the enemy and they have controlled the media by using money, power and their lies,'' the statement said.
NATO and its member countries announce all troop deaths, providing names, ages and hometowns and how the soldiers were killed. According to a tally based on those announcements, 286 foreign forces died last year in Afghanistan, including 151 American and 51 British.
Though the death toll was highly exaggerated, the Taliban have had increased success recently. Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in the last two years, and Taliban militants now control wide swaths of countryside. In response, the U.S. is planning to pour up to 30,000 more troops into the country this year.
http://www.ndtv. com/convergence/ ndtv/story. aspx?id=NEWEN200 90078893
The Taliban has long exaggerated its military successes, but its year-end numbers--posted last week on its Web site--may be the militia's most startling claim yet in the war of information.
In addition to claims it killed 5,220 foreign troops, the insurgents said they downed 31 aircraft last year. Its fighters destroyed 2,818 NATO and Afghan vehicles and killed 7,552 Afghan soldiers and police, according to a statement from a spokesman.
The true damage inflicted on U.S. and NATO fighters over the last year has been "repeatedly hidden by the enemy and they have controlled the media by using money, power and their lies,'' the statement said.
NATO and its member countries announce all troop deaths, providing names, ages and hometowns and how the soldiers were killed. According to a tally based on those announcements, 286 foreign forces died last year in Afghanistan, including 151 American and 51 British.
Though the death toll was highly exaggerated, the Taliban have had increased success recently. Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in the last two years, and Taliban militants now control wide swaths of countryside. In response, the U.S. is planning to pour up to 30,000 more troops into the country this year.
http://www.ndtv. com/convergence/ ndtv/story. aspx?id=NEWEN200 90078893
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