Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Troop Injuries Hit New High in Afghanistan

Taliban roadside bombs highly effective against US

By Caroline Miller,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 31, 2009 7:58 AM CDT
Email

(Newser) – Injuries to US troops in Afghanistan have risen alarmingly in the last 3 months, as a Taliban offensive deploys deadlier roadside bombs aimed at American and other foreign forces. The rate of injury has surpassed that in Iraq during the heaviest fighting of the surge 2 years ago, the Washington Post reports. "It shows you how we are the targets and how effectively they are targeting us," says a Pentagon spokesman.

The IEDs being used by the Taliban are powerful enough to destroy even the Pentagon's most mine-resistant vehicles, prompting Defense Secretary Robert Gates to order thousands more support troops to Afghanistan to hunt and destroy roadside bombs. More than 1,000 troops have been injured in the last 3 months—a quarter of all the injuries sustained since the US-led invasion in 2001.

U.S. soldiers patrols a road which leads to the site where a road side bomb hit a U.S. vehicle in Mehtar Lam, Laghman province east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, Oct.25, 2009.
U.S. soldiers patrols a road which leads to the site where a road side bomb hit a U.S. vehicle in Mehtar Lam, Laghman province east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, Oct.25, 2009.   (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
Afghan men gather near the wreckage of a passenger taxi after it was blown up in an explosion in Khogyani district of Jalalabad, Nangarhar province east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. A taxi carrying nine civilians hit a bomb buried in the road in eastern Afghanistan on...
Afghan men gather near the wreckage of a passenger taxi after it was blown up in an explosion in Khogyani district of Jalalabad, Nangarhar province east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009....   (AP Photo/ Rehmat Gul)
Wreckage of a passenger taxi lies on the road as Afghan men stand nearby in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009.
Wreckage of a passenger taxi lies on the road as Afghan men stand nearby in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009.   (AP Photo/ Rehmat Gul)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 12 comments
tran_tor
Nov 3, 2009 1:54 AM CST
@Rocket: Taliban are foreign to Afghanistan.
tran_tor
Nov 1, 2009 4:29 AM CST
@foodchain11: unfortunately the only way to win in war it either to not get in it in the first place (most desirable by far) or to engage in total war, and destroy and kill everything/one on the enemy side. Just my opinion, but Genghis Kahn's tactics were so brutal, he often didn't have to fight as towns would simply surrender and comply.
foodchain11
Oct 31, 2009 11:25 AM CDT
This is just the dumbest argument in the world---oops--the USA, because everyone else in the world understands war better than we do. We have failed at every war afrter WWII and gues why? WE don't know what the F---- we're doing!!!! Ike did, the others do not!!!! Big bunch of stupid white men thinking they can shoot anything and win. Dumbest people ever. Watch an old sci-fi. Out we come with our guns----dhu then, duh now
US • World

 
Afghanistan • Robert Gates • US troops • brain injuries

More Newser Stories

Taliban: Prince Harry Shouldn't Kill

CIA Fills Void in Iraq, Afghanistan

US Eyes Switch to Special Ops in Afghanistan

Afghan Civilian Deaths Hit New High

Panetta: US Combat Role in Afghanistan Over in 2013
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne