This Globe and Mail article looks at the casualty rates among the national forces in Afghanistan and finds Canadians getting knocked off at a much higher rate than any other country's. IEDs, not combat, are the main reason why.
A Globe and Mail examination of those killed in action during the 18 months up to July 31 (roughly since NATO contingents including Canada moved in strength into southern Iraq) shows Canadians soldiers were being killed at three times the rate of the British in neighbouring Helmand province and more than four times the rate of U.S. soldiers who are deployed mostly in eastern and southern Afghanistan.
The comparison excludes non-hostile deaths (such aircraft and vehicle accidents and suicides) but includes firefights, friendly fire, IEDs, suicide attacks – in sum, all hostile acts of insurgency and counterinsurgency.
Although the overall number of those killed in action is relatively small – 224 NATO and U.S. soldiers died between Feb. 1, 2006, and July 31, 2007 – there are striking differences in the burdens borne by different counties.
More than half of those killed in action were American, a rate that roughly matches the proportion of the U.S. contribution – 55 per cent – to the 41,000 combined NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
Britain, with 6,500 troops in Afghanistan, or about 16 per cent of the total foreign forces, has had 52 soldiers killed in action. That's about 19 per cent of the total hostile deaths, reflecting the tough and contested area of operations assigned to the British.
Canada's killed-in-action rate is three times as high as the British rate and four times the American level. Although direct comparisons are flawed because of different operating areas and the numbers of soldiers actually out in the field as opposed to on large bases, the loss of 52 Canadians killed in action is significantly worse than the loss rates of other countries.
Some large contingents, notably Germany, Spain and Italy – all of which have sent troops to Afghanistan but keep them far from the fighting in the relatively quiet north of the country – have suffered very few casualties.
A study done last year also found that Canada's soldiers are dying at a disproportionately high rate.
I looked at the Afghanistan mission casualty numbers in a July 4 post in response to a commentary that essentially asked the question, What's the big deal?