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1,000 troops killed or wounded in Afghan conflict
Paul Waugh and Nicholas Cecil17 Aug 2009
Almost 1,000 British troops have been killed or wounded in action since the start of the Afghan conflict eight years ago.
The casualty figures were released today as the Ministry of Defence named two of the five soldiers who died at the weekend.
Private Richard Hunt was the 200th British military death and Sergeant Simon Valentine was the 201st.
The family of Pte Hunt paid tribute to a "shy and selfless hero who can never be replaced". Sgt Valentine leaves a wife and two children.
The five deaths, all the result of roadside bombs, take the British death toll in Afghanistan since 2001 to 204, with 790 wounded in action, many of them seriously.
The figures show that 94 soldiers were admitted to field hospitals last month - four times as many as May - making it the bloodiest period of the war against the Taliban so far.
Nineteen soldiers were very seriously wounded, meaning they had life-threatening injuries, with a further 12 with serious wounds.
A total of 190 were flown out of the war zones for hospital treatment, compared with about 120 each in June and May.
Twenty-two British soldiers died last month and the death toll has already risen by a further 13 this month ahead of the Afghan presidential elections on Thursday.
So far this year, 236 British troops have been hurt in the fighting, a number which has already overtaken last year's total casualties in action of 235.
More than 50 UK military personnel have had to have limbs amputated.
Last month, British medics at the UK-run field hospital at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province said they had been stretched by the upsurge in fighting during Operation Panther's Claw and had to call in a team of US doctors.
The Taliban has stepped up attacks in the run-up to Afghanistan's presidential elections on Thursday.
Britain and America are seeking to speed up the transfer as quickly as possible to the Afghan army and police.
The British commander in Helmand today said military control could be handed over to Afghan forces in parts of the province.
Brigadier Tim Radford suggested this could happen in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, and to a lesser extent in Garmsir.
He said: "Are the Afghan National Army capable of transition to take security lead? Almost certainly yes - in certain areas."
Lieutenant General Simon Mayall, Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, defended the military campaign. "The prize of success is worth the price - and the price of failure would come back to haunt us on our own streets," he said.
Reader views (11)
Let's all be very polite and not talk about the elephant in the room... Israel.
The West turns a blind eye to the Zionist gangsters and their rape of Palestinian land and natural resources, while the United States continues to bankroll the parasitical neo-fascist "failed-state" of Israel... Hence Al-Queda: hence 9/11/
There will be no peace in this world until the Zionist gangsters are brought to heel and Palestinian problem is solved.
Our troops will continue to fight this proxy war, and die in large numbers, on behalf of the Zionist murderers.
- Dave, London, 08/09/2009 09:59
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We kill more people on British roads in a month than have died in Afghanistan since the conflict started.
Where is the media's backbone as shown in previous conflicts ?.
- Terry, Bristol, 18/08/2009 13:57
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All the comments read so far have valid and meaningfull remarks.I can remember Vietnam,at the time a member of our armed forces,who helped the USA to withdraw.
This is going to end in tears,take my word for it.Those of us who have been there before can see the signs...high rotation of military leaders,high rotation of MoD leaders.Very poor and weak Ministers,most of whom should never,ever be allowed near our 'Armed Forces'.They cannot even speak the same language!
So what's next?
It must be sit and talk,talk until there is some kind of resolution,some kind of hope for the future.
That will require the use of someone who knows what they are talking about......do we have such a person?
- Tithonus, Athens Greece., 17/08/2009 16:47
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Can we have a change in the way deaths are reported please?
While it is true that 204 have died since 2001, the vast majority, in the order of 190, have died since 2006.
It is a small point, I agree, but it does say something of the rate of deaths, which seems to be increasing, in a war that seems unwinable, and even if it is winanble, for what? So that men can starve their wives if sex is not forthcoming.
- Escobar-Alop-Lop, Camden County, 17/08/2009 14:51
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Robert Thornton - when has an afghan been a terrorist in the UK.
Would armed hijacking an Afghan Airliner (Feb 2000) and landing in Stansted fit your requirements? Course we forgot to send them back and gave them houses, cars, money etc. Some deterrent eh? Must be some of Millibrains 'justified' terrorists.
Actually I agree with the sentiment behind your post. Do the job properly with overwhelming numbers of troops and proper equipment levels or get the heck out.
- Ethan, UK, 17/08/2009 14:17
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Robert Thorton (Malaga): I just wonder how far your appeasement would stretch (?) After all, what really got up Bin Laden's nose was US action in the First Gulf War i.e. expelling Saddam from Kuwait and using bases in Saudi Arabia. Would you have backed down on that one as well? Remember that the occuptaion of Afgahnistan was expressly approved by the UN and by NATO (though shame on those countries who have not pulled their weight!). As tragic as the loss of even one life maybe, these are all professional soldiers doing what they have been trained to do. Our losses for the whole conflict so far are a tiny fraction of those lost on D Day alone. We also owe it to the majority of Afghans who have shown that they want to right to vote, and for their female children to got to school. We can't just run away as soon as the going gets tough. I really despair that the West will lose any kind of backbone: then the future really is a Taliban nightmare.
- Alan, London, 17/08/2009 13:40
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Robert Thornton: it was the terrorists who kicked off to a good start before either the war in Iraq or the campaign in Afghanistan - or is the second unprovoked attack on the WORLD trade centre which killed thousands of all nationalities, classes and religions now a distant memory? And it was the British Armed Forces which risked their lives to save Muslims from Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia: or has that too been forgotten? Don't re-write history.
As for withdrawing now: having seized the territory, impacted on the profits and killed the relatives of some of the nastiest people on the planet, do you really think you can just walk away and they won't come after you?
- Roz, France, 17/08/2009 13:38
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According to Brown our presence in Afganistan is stopping terrorism from coming to the UK. When has an Afgan been involved in terrorism in the UK, it is always mindless UK muslims who have been indoctrinated because we are killing their fellow muslims both innocents and Taliban in Afganistan and Iraq. If we pulled out they would have no cause. Why are we bothered with bringing our style of democracy to that country anyway, they don't want it and it won't work, just what is the point?
- Robert Thornton, Malaga, Spain, 17/08/2009 13:04
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Mark, the whole problem is you cannot seal Afghanistan off from the West - it has completely porous borders, treacherous terrain and Al Qaeda will access the West via flights from Pakistan, which is quite worrying now that country has nuclear weapons. A reporter captured and held in this region last year witnessed rooms of 3yr olds watching not Bob The Builder, like our 3yr olds, but constant footage of decapitations and people blowing themselves up as a means of normalising this behaviour to the next generation. Appeasing a bully and hoping they will leave you alone never really works: look back at how Europe first handled Hitler. The public wanted to be protected from Al Quaeda and this is the result: if you want an army that fights, regretably people will die. We should honour our heroes for having the kind of character that we do not and ensure that we elect politicians who make do not lightly make the decision whether or not to endanger their lives.
Now that the Armed Forces are there, more pertinent is whether the MOD has enough money - and wisely spent - to provide these brave men and women with all the equipment they need and deserve and whether they are using appropriate tactics to give them the best chance of success for the task they have been set.
- Roz, France, 17/08/2009 12:53
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You can't destroy an ideology.
Everyone you kill recruites 5 more.
Roll on 2014 when the generals blame the yanks as the British are in full retreat.
- Daniel, London, 17/08/2009 12:38
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Stop wasting the lives of young British men in a war that can't be won. The Afghans don't want them there and don't appreciate what they are trying to do. The bottom line is nothing is being changed, Afghanistan is a hardline Islamic country and will be long after our troops have left.
If you really want to make them change, seal Afghanistan, (along with other hardline Islamic countries), off from the western world and force them to confront the harsh realities that a hardline Islamic culture brings, when they can't escape those realities through migration they will be forced to act. If they rebel against it then great, if they choose to embrace it then it just proves they weren't deserving of our help in the first place.
- Mark, London UK, 17/08/2009 11:28
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