Civilian Deaths In Afganistan Down This Year

It seems that the United States military is finally starting to get the message about how counter productive it is to kill innocent civilians in Afganistan and has begun taking a little bit more care when it comes to dropping those bombs on targets where it suspects the enemy is hiding out. In 2007 both U.S. and Nato air strikes accounted for the deaths of 319 civilians in Afganistan. That was a number that is three times higher than the year before. This loss of innocent life was having negative effects on the people of Afganistan in terms of how they viewed the Americans and their war effort in their country. In an attempt to avoid any further negative backlash the military this year has taken steps to be a little more cautious and not so freewheeling with the collateral damage that it inflicts on the country. This year as of mid september the number of civilians killed is down to 119 so far. It is still more than in 2006 but it is a reversal of the upward trend that was seen in 2007.