Tracking the Civilian Death Toll in the Afghan War This January, the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) granted Science access for the first time to its dataset on civilian casualties in the Afghan war - pretty important stuff.  The basic results from the ISAF internal records, called CIVCAS, isthat 2537 civilians were killed and 5594 were wounded over the past 2 years, with 12% of those casualties attributed to ISAF forces and the rest to insurgents. Compared to Wikileaks data, this is 93% accurate.  UN estimates (which I will be posting on shortly) are much higher, which the ISAF acknowledge, but show similar overall trends. The team at Science analysed the datasets from the ISAF and the UN and compared them.  The conclusion is, despite the overall increase in civilian deaths (attributed largely to insurgent forces), that ISAF has become a safer overall gig.   Read the full story by John Bohannon about analysing the data and putting raw numbers into strategic context. Here are Excel downloads of the datasets and other documents from CIVCAS, UNAMA, and more. Above: Villagers watch soldiers from the 101st Airborne in Talukan, Kandahar. Photo Credit: Antonio Olmos via the Guardian.   This is the first post of a handful that will be posted here at The Political Notebook regarding the civilian casualty counts in Afghanistan.

Tracking the Civilian Death Toll in the Afghan War

This January, the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) granted Science access for the first time to its dataset on civilian casualties in the Afghan war - pretty important stuff.  The basic results from the ISAF internal records, called CIVCAS, isthat 2537 civilians were killed and 5594 were wounded over the past 2 years, with 12% of those casualties attributed to ISAF forces and the rest to insurgents. Compared to Wikileaks data, this is 93% accurate.  UN estimates (which I will be posting on shortly) are much higher, which the ISAF acknowledge, but show similar overall trends.

The team at Science analysed the datasets from the ISAF and the UN and compared them.  The conclusion is, despite the overall increase in civilian deaths (attributed largely to insurgent forces), that ISAF has become a safer overall gig.  

Read the full story by John Bohannon about analysing the data and putting raw numbers into strategic context.

Here are Excel downloads of the datasets and other documents from CIVCAS, UNAMA, and more.

Above: Villagers watch soldiers from the 101st Airborne in Talukan, Kandahar. Photo Credit: Antonio Olmos via the Guardian.  

This is the first post of a handful that will be posted here at The Political Notebook regarding the civilian casualty counts in Afghanistan.

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  1. revolutionarysoul reblogged this from pantslessprogressive
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    Villagers watch soldiers from the 101st Airborne in Talukan, Kandahar. Tracking the Civilian Death Toll in the Afghan...
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    Bring the troops home. Enough is enough already.
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