Longest War in US History Turned 16

US War on Afghanistan: “Operation Enduring Freedom” has resulted in hundreds of thousands of causalities at a cost of $1.08+ trillion

At least 111,000 Afghans, including civilians, soldiers and militants, are estimated to have been killed in the 16-year war.

The Cost of War project estimated that 360,000 others have died from indirect causes related to the war, based on a ratio of indirect to direct deaths in contemporary conflicts.

Documented Civilian Deaths
More than 31,000 civilian  killed in war-related violence in Afghanistan, with 29,900 others wounded.

UNMA 201 7 Mid – Year Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan

During the first half of 2017, armed conflict continued to cause severe harm to civilians across Afghanistan, killing and injuring civilians at levels similar to the same period last year. Between 1 January and 30 June 2017, UNAMA documented 5,243 civilian casualties (1,662 deaths and 3,581 injured), marking a decrease of less than one per cent in overall civilian casualties. Civilian deaths increased by two per cent while the number of civilians injured decreased by one per cent. 3 Between 1 January 2009 and 30 June 2017, armed conflict in Afghanistan has claimed the lives of 26,512 civilians and injured 48,931 others.

Child Casualties

Child casualties increased by 9% to 436 killed and 1,141 wounded, compared with the first 6-months of 2016. Female deaths rose by 23%, with 174 women killed and 462 wounded.

• Coalition Fatalities: 3,541 (Including 2,403 from the US)
• US personnel wounded: 17,674 (Oct. 2001 – Sep.  2012)

The War Racket’s Known Cost: $1.08 trillion [that’s about $3,100 for every man, woman and child in the US.]

Opium Production

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported the area used to farm the poppy plant, the source of opium, and heroin, had increased by 10% (YoY) to 201,000 hectares in October 2016.

 

60,000 Congolese Refugees Flee to Uganda

Congolese Refugees fleeing rebel attacks to Uganda

Mass exodus of Congolese refugees from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo fleeing a rebel attack on the town of Kamango began on Thursday.

As of early Sunday, at least 60,000 refugees had crossed the border into western Uganda’s Bundibugyo district, an increase of 25,000 in 24 hours.

“We were woken in the darkness before dawn on Thursday by shooting, gunshots,” said a female refugee who crossed the border with her three children.

“I just grabbed my children and what I could carry, and we ran towards Uganda, we were frightened of being killed.”

“The town of Kamango in the northernmost part of North Kivu province was attacked and briefly occupied Thursday by a Ugandan-led rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF),” AFP reported.

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Other Global Disasters, Significant Events

“Suicide is Painless!”

UK soldier and veteran suicides exceeded Afghan deaths last years. More British soldiers and veterans committed suicide in 2012 than died fighting  in Afghanistan over the same period, said a report.

At least 21 serving soldiers and 29 veterans killed themselves last year.

The Afghanistan death toll in 2012 was 44, including 40 who died in action.

-oOo-

Typhoon SOULIK  Forces Massive Evacuation in China

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Hundreds Killed, Millions Affected in China’s Epic Floods

-oOo-

‘1 Million Died’ from Afghan Heroin Since ‘War on Terror’

NATO’s Needle War

“Afghan heroin has killed more than 1 million people worldwide since the ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ began and over a trillion dollars has been invested into transnational organized crime from drug sales,” said the head of Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service, Viktor Ivanov. 

“Any impartial observer must admit the sad fact that the international community has failed to curb heroin production in Afghanistan since the start of NATO’s operation.” Ivanov said at the UN’s 56th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna.

• Opium growth has increased by 18 per cent from 131,000 hectares (ha) to 154,000 [compared with 104,000 ha in 2005 and 7,606 ha in 2001] in the war-torn country, Ivanov told the conference.

• Afghanistan produces about 90 per cent of the world’s opium.

• Opium production in Afghanistan is up from 185 tons a year in 2001, prior to NATO’s invasion, to 5,800 tons in 2012.

• Afghanistan produced about 820 tons of heroin in 2012, said Ivanov in his presentation.

A heroin user injects himself at the derelict former Russian Cultural Center, a haven for drug addicts in Kabul. Photo credit: Peter Nicholls/The Times (UK). Image may be subject to copyright.

Poppy Field in Afghanistan. Image source. Image may be subject to copyright.

Heroin kills more than 30,000 people in Russia every year, and nearly all of the deadly drug comes from Afghanistan, BBC reported Victor Ivanov as saying.

The heroin production in Afghanistan has now developed to a ‘global destabilizing factor,’ especially for Russia, Ivanov has previously stated.

Drug injection is the largest factor for the spread of HIV in the U.S.  A study by the National Institutes of Health found that 27 percent of all injecting drug users are HIV-infected. United States has an estimated 1 million heroin addicts.

 Related Links

• NATO: Cold War to Needle War
• Who Is Profiting from Booming Cocaine Trade in the US?
• Another CIA Own Goal?

The Financial Legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan

How Wartime Spending Decisions will Cancel Out the Peace Dividend: Report

Costs to U.S. taxpayers of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could reach six trillion dollars, making them the most expensive conflicts in U.S. history, according to a new report by Linda Bilmes, a Harvard University researcher and a former Bill Clinton administration official.

“The single largest accrued liability of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is the cost of providing medical care and disability benefits to war veterans,” she wrote in the report, The Financial Legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan: How Wartime Spending Decisions Will Constrain Future National Security Budgets.

“The US has already spent close to $2 trillion in direct outlays for expenses related to Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation New Dawn (OND),” according to the report.

“The paper does not recalculate previous estimates of the economic costs of the impact on human life, nor the extensive impact inside of Iraq,Afghanistan and the region, which if included would bring the costs much higher,” said the report author. Read full report in pdf format HERE or in MSWord HERE

Related Links

• Most Unethical Nations in 2011 [and Probably 2012] December 31, 2011

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DISASTER CALENDAR – April 1, 2013 — 
SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,076 Days Left 

Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,076 Days Left to ‘Worst Day’ in the brief Human  History
• The countdown began on May 15, 2011 …

GLOBAL WARNINGS

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID PLANETARY DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Europe: The First Phase of Collapse Has Started 
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

Killed in Afghanistan

August the Deadliest Single Month for U.S, Fatalities in Afghanistan Since the Occupation Began

The War Vulture in the White House kills 65 US troops this month

READ THIS FIRST

Continued hacking and content censorship

In view of the continued hacking and censorship of this blog by the Internet Mafia, the Moderators have decided to maintain only a minimum presence at this site, until further notice.

FIRE-EARTH will continue to update the 2011 Disaster Calendar for the benefit of its readers.

WordPress is HACKING this blog!

WordPress Continues to Hack Fire-Earth, Affiliated Blogs

The Blog Moderators Condemn in the Strongest Possible Terms the Continued Removal of Content and Hacking of FIRE-EARTH and Affiliated Blogs by WordPress!

Disaster Calendar 2011 – August 31

[August 31, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,659 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

• Obama’s War on Afghanistan.
• U.S. Fatalities In and Around Afghanistan [‘Operation Enduring Freedom‘] : 1,670 [1,752]
• Total number of Coalition troops killed: 2,699
• Afghan civilians and soldiers killed in the occupation war: at least 19,629
• Afghan civilians injured: Tens of thousands

Other Disasters

• New Jersey, USA. The White House today declared a major disaster exists in the State of New Jersey due to the widespread damage caused  by Hurricane Irene beginning on August 27, 2011, and continuing.
• New York, USA. The White House today declared a major disaster exists in the State of New York following the impact of Hurricane Irene beginning on August 26, 2011, and continuing.
• “New York state alone suffered $1 billion in damage with 600 homes destroyed, six towns inundated and 150 major highways and 140,000 acres of farmland damaged, Governor Cuomo said.”
• North Carolina, USA. The White House today declared a major disaster exists in the State of North Carolina due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Irene beginning on August 25, 2011, and continuing.
• Iowa, USA. The White House today declared a major disaster exists in the State of Iowa because of the widespread damage caused by severe storms and flooding during the period of July 27-29, 2011.
• Vermont, USA. The White House has declared an emergency exists in the State of Vermont due to the emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Irene beginning on August 26, 2011, and continuing.
• Ibadan, Nigeria. At least 102 people are now known to have died as a result of flooding in the south-western Nigerian city of Ibadan and neighboring areas the Nigerian Red Cross has said.
• USA.

Related Links

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• 2011 Disaster Calendar – August
• 2010 Disaster Calendar 
• 2011 Disaster Calendar