The army of any country is interested in minimizing information on the number of soldiers and officers who died in military conflicts.
Real data about the victims can negatively affect the moral atmosphere in society, provoke pacifist sentiments, encourage a large number of young people to refuse to serve in the armed forces (especially if the equipment is carried out according to the contract system), cause anti-government sentiments and widespread manifestations of discontent. In addition, representatives of the high command want to look like qualified military leaders who are able to win with little blood.
In those years when the Soviet Army conducted military operations in Afghanistan, the country's leadership solved the problem of concealment of losses simply: they were not reported. Citizens of the USSR judged the death toll according to reports of the Voice of America, BBC, Deutsche Welle radio stations and similar news agencies, which, in turn, were interested in creating dissatisfaction with the existing order and sought to overestimate this data.
The American administration is in a more difficult position. US losses in Afghanistan are growing, it is not easy to conceal them, so the army leadership is forced to invent new technologies to hide the real picture.
For starters, the statistics exclude servicemen who have signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense in the hope of obtaining citizenship. If a resident of Puerto Rico, for example, wants to become an American, then one of the ways to achieve this goal can be army service. Wearing sand-colored camouflage with the US Army patch over the left breast pocket, such a guy has every chance of getting into a "hot spot". He has several more chances to die than other soldiers, if only for the reason that he often speaks English very poorly and understands only the main commands. Foreigners currently make up approximately 60% of all ji-ai. When calculating US losses in Afghanistan, they are not taken into account.
The second way to conceal the real picture is to hide the number of seriously wounded who died in hospitals. Modern ammunition (Kevlar vests and helmets) protect vital organs, but they can not save a person from shell shock (the consequences of which are terrible), injuries and blood loss. Losses of the USA in Afghanistan take into account only those who died directly on the battlefield. If a soldier died in a hospital bed, then he is considered “dead”.
There is another trick that allows you to create a relatively safe picture. Even during maneuvers, there is a statistical percentage of military deaths due to equipment failure, traffic accidents or careless handling of weapons. US losses in Afghanistan only account for those killed during military operations. It is understood that accidents can occur in peacetime. In certain periods, the number of such victims is many times greater than the number of those who died in battles.
Despite a priori technical superiority, the US Army in Afghanistan suffers heavy losses. And the reason for this is not at all "the centuries-old desire of the proud people for freedom." The situation there is really very complicated. Up to three quarters of the world's opium production comes from this country. After the introduction of the coalition forces into the country, the profits from this criminal activity did not decrease at all.
Today it is difficult to comprehensively assess the total US losses in Afghanistan. 2013 has not yet ended, but it is already clear that the trend is catastrophic, and the withdrawal of troops is planned only at the end of 2014. According to official figures, the number of Americans killed in this unpromising war exceeded 2,000, and over 18,000 were injured and injured.