Afghan insurgent attacks dip for first time

[Modbert]

Afghan insurgent attacks dip for first time: Petraeus | Reuters

(Reuters) - Insurgent attacks against Afghan and NATO forces in Afghanistan have started to decline on an annual basis for the first time in up to five years, defying predictions by intelligence analysts, General David Petraeus said on Saturday.

The number of insurgent attacks is one of the key measures used by the military to assess the success or failure of the nearly decade-old war in Afghanistan, the focus of a massive U.S. troop buildup which will start to come home this month.

Petraeus, who is due to step down as the top commander in Afghanistan in mid-July, said the number of attacks declined in May and June by "a few percent," compared to the same months in 2010. July is trending in the same direction, he said.

That compares to intelligence estimates that had predicted insurgent attacks to spike up by 18 to 30 percent this year over last Year.

This is very good news to read about to say the least.

 

[Modbert]

I find the following related statistics to be interesting:

276 Taliban were reported to have been killed between June 22, 2011, and July 5, 2011.[1]

295 Taliban were reported to have been killed between May 22, 2011, and June 21, 2011.[2]

717 Taliban were reported to have been killed between March 16, 2011, and May 17, 2011.[3]

99–100 Taliban were reported to have been killed between February 21, 2011, and March 15, 2011.[4]

List of Taliban fatality reports in Afghanistan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Between February-March, about 100 Taliban were killed.

Between March-May (2 months), 717 were killed. That's about 358/359 Taliban on average each month.

Though it went down to 295 the next month, just as many have been killed in the last 13 days on record.

As it also states, the totals could be higher. Though I'm also interested in how many they've arrested as well.