By the end of December 2014, NATO/ISAF coalition forces formally declared the Afghan war over, theatrically simulating a bowing out that in fact consists of substituting the new label Resolute Support Mission to the old Enduring Freedom Operation, while maintaining a scaled down military presence in the country for an indefinite period of time.
NATO/ISAF losses amounted to 3,485 deaths since the beginning of the war on 7 October 2001 through 2014. The number of US personnel killed reaches 68% of the total. UK, Canada, and France account for another 20%. It is nothing comparable to the bloodshed of World War II (1941-1945), where the US alone suffered 291,557 battle deaths, excluding other deaths in service, or the 33,739 battle deaths in the Korean War (1950-1953), or the 47,434 battle deaths in the the Vietnam War (1964-1975). But it is far too much in the context of modern warfare, when the leaders, relying on the skills of professional soldiers and mercenaries, on the strength of the most advanced technology and weaponry, and on the crushing superiority of their industrial might, promise their constituencies zero-casualty, lightening fast, clean video-game-like wars. It is more than enough to disgust the people and to discredit the leaders.
It is only fair that big western powers pay the heavy price for their imperialist games. After all, setting aside the UK, so appropriately named "Airstrip One" by George Orwell, thus exposing Britain as little more than a convenient airstrip for the American forces, only cynical calculation, greed and despicable servility can explain the presence of German, French, Spanish or Italian troops in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan. This carries a price, which the West will be called upon to pay somehow, sometime.
It is still harder to understand why such penniless states as Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal or Romania, on the verge of bankruptcy, not even capable of meeting their basic domestic obligations, find it appropriate to run after the forlorn glory of a disgraceful, costly and doomed war in the grounds of Central Asia. That such a loathsome policy eluded proper scrutiny by the people's representatives is an unquestionable sign that democracy is alarmingly sick in these countries.
Afghanistan War | ||
Country | Fatalities | |
Total | Percent | |
| Albania | 1 | 0.03% |
| Australia | 41 | 1.2% |
| Belgium | 1 | 0.03% |
| Canada | 158 | 4.5% |
| Czech | 10 | 0.3% |
| Denmark | 43 | 1.2% |
| Estonia | 9 | 0.3% |
| Finland | 2 | 0.06% |
| France | 86 | 2.5% |
| Georgia | 27 | 0.8% |
| Germany | 54 | 1.5% |
| Hungary | 7 | 0.2% |
| Italy | 48 | 1.4% |
| Jordan | 2 | 0.06% |
| Latvia | 3 | 0.09% |
| Lithuania | 1 | 0.03% |
| NATO | 17 | 0.5% |
| Netherlands | 25 | 0.7% |
| New Zealand | 11 | 0.3% |
| Norway | 10 | 0.3% |
| Poland | 40 | 1.1% |
| Portugal | 2 | 0.06% |
| Romania | 21 | 0.6% |
| Slovakia | 3 | 0.09% |
| South Korea | 1 | 0.03% |
| Spain | 34 | 1.0% |
| Sweden | 5 | 0.14% |
| Turkey | 14 | 0.4% |
| UK | 453 | 13.0% |
| US | 2,356 | 67.6% |
| Total | 3,485 | 100.0% |
Sources: Afghanistan: Coalition Fatalities, and US DoD - Defense Casualty Analysis System.
