Government watchdog: 284 Americans died working on Afghanistan ‘reconstruction’

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Dying while building for others.

A new report from the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR) shows that the human cost of the war in Afghanistan wasn’t limited to U.S. soldiers engaged in combat.

“At least 284 Americans were killed in Afghanistan while performing reconstruction or stabilization missions,” according to the new SIGAR report specially focused on the human cost of the reconstruction effort. “This includes 216 U.S. service members and 68 U.S. civilians (government employees, contractors, and those with unknown statuses). An additional 245 service members and 76 civilians were wounded.”

While the loss of soldiers in any form of warfare is tragic, it’s truly unsettling to find that so many soldiers and American civilians died working on urban renewal projects for a nonexistent nation-state on behalf of a corrupt government.

In testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week, John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, laid bare the myth of the Afghan military as a worthy cause for American interests. “The Afghan military — and particularly the Afghan police — has been a hopeless nightmare and a disaster,” said the inspector, who has been the lone voice exposing the Afghan fraud for years.

Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee earlier this week, Sopko noted how every time things deteriorate with the Afghan government and military, the Pentagon moved to classify the information so it’s off-limits to public scrutiny. “Every time we find something that looks like it’s going negative, it gets classified. … Most of the [methods] of measuring success are now classified,” he said Tuesday before the Senate panel.

This is the state of the failed mission so many people are dying for. In addition to the 284 who have died from reconstruction efforts, according to SIGAR, 245 U.S. soldiers and 76 civilian workers were injured. These casualties are all for the reconstruction efforts and don’t include the tens of thousands who were killed or injured during combat and counter-terrorism missions, such as patrols, raids, and ambushes.

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