The War on Terrorism

摘要

By Oct. 21, a total of 2,349 Americans had died in Operation Enduring Freedom. The total includes 2,345 troops and four Department of Defense civilians. Of these deaths, 1,804 were killed in action with the enemy while 509 died in noncombat incidents. There have been 20,023 troops wounded in action during OEF. Miscommunication among the US ground forces and an Air Force joint terminal attack controller's mistake about the targeting capability of a B-1B providing close air support led to the "friendly fire" incident that killed five US soldiers and one Afghan soldier June 9 in eastern Afghanistan, according to a US Central Command investigation, released Sept. 4. "The key members executing the close air support mission collectively failed to effectively execute the fundamentals, which resulted in poor situational awareness and improper target identification," the investigating officer, Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, said in the report.