WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2020) More than 5,000 people, including 461 US service members, were killed or wounded in Afghanistan during reconstruction efforts between 2002 and 2018, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in a report.
"We conservatively identified 5,135 casualties in Afghanistan associated with reconstruction or stabilization missions, from then-President Bush's formal announcement of the beginning of our reconstruction mission in Afghanistan on April 17, 2002 to December 31, 2018," the report said on Tuesday. "This total includes 2,214 killed and 2,921 wounded."
The total number of individuals killed includes 216 US service members and 68 US civilians such as government employees and contractors, the report said. Another 245 US service members and 76 civilians were wounded, the report added.
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko during a testimony before a Senate panel on Tuesday said about 2,300 US service members have been killed in action in Afghanistan.
Another 100 Coalition service members were killed and 105 wounded during reconstruction efforts, the report said. The Afghan population has suffered the most losses with a total of 1,578 locals killed and 2,246 others wounded, the report added.
The US government and the Taliban have been attempting to negotiate a peace deal since 2018 that would ensure the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the movement's guarantee that the country would not become a safe haven for terrorists. Meetings have taken place regularly in Qatar's Doha to address the issue, but the dialogue has been suspended twice over recent months due to Taliban attacks.
Negotiations resumed in January, with the most recent round taking place on Monday. US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani met with senior Taliban members and negotiators to discuss further steps in the peace process.
