US Will Stop Releasing Afghan Insurgent Body Count

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 27, 2009 10:23 AM CDT
US Will Stop Releasing Afghan Insurgent Body Count
The body of suspected Taliban fighter lies on a roadside as Afghan police officers stand guard in Khost, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, July 25, 2009.   (AP Photo/Nishanuddin Khan)

The US will no longer publish tallies of the number of enemies killed in Afghanistan, CNN reports. The body counts send the wrong message, says the top US military spokesman for the coalition, who ordered the change. The war is supposed to be about protecting civilians, he noted, not killing militants, and publicly quantifying the deaths "has little relevance to impacting the lives of Afghans."

“We conduct operations not aimed at killing insurgents, although in many instances that is the outcome,” he said, "but to clear areas of insurgency and give the people a chance to reconnect with official forms of governance and rebuild their lives.” (More Afghanistan stories.)

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