The 12-Year War: 73% of U.S. Casualties in Afghanistan on Obama's Watch

The 12-Year War: 73% of U.S. Casualties in Afghanistan on Obama's Watch

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In total, 2,144 U.S. military personnel have given their lives fighting in and around Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. (AP File Photo)

(CNSNews.com) - Twelve years ago today, nineteen al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four U.S. commercial airliners and flew them into the World Trade Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

In the war that Congress authorized against al Qaeda only three days after that attack, the vast majority of the U.S. casualties have occurred in the last four and a half years during the presidency of Barack Obama.

In fact, according to the CNSNews.com database of U.S. casualties in Afghanistan, 73 percent of all U.S. Afghan War casualties have occurred since Jan. 20, 2009 when Obama was inaugurated.

On Sept. 14, 2011, Congress approved a resolution authorizing the president “to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons.”

By October 2001, U.S. forces were engaged in Afghanistan, seeking to remove al Qaeda from the sanctuary it had used there to launch the Sept. 11, 2001 attack.

Since then, most of the leaders and participants in the 9/11 terrorist attacks have been killed or captured. But the United States not only remains at war in Afghanistan, it continues to suffer significant casualties there.

In total, 2,144 U.S. military personnel have given their lives fighting in and around Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

1,575 of the U.S. military personnel who have sacrificed their lives in this cause were killed during the presidency of Barack Obama.

That means 73 percent of the casualties in the Afghan War have happened on Barack Obama’s watch.

Under President George W. Bush, from 2001 to 2008, 569 U.S. military personnel were killed in and around Afghanistan fighting in Operation Enduring Freedom.

So far this year, during the twelfth year of the Afghan War, 91 U.S. military personnel have given their lives in Afghanistan.

The Department of Defense reported 17 casualties in May and 18 in June--the two deadliest months for U.S. troops in Afghanistan so far this year. Typically, the summer months from June to September are the deadliest for U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan.

Among the 91 U.S. casualties reported so far this year, all but 9 have been combat-related.

During the now 12-year-long Afghan War, the four deadliest years for U.S. troops were also the four years of Obama’s first term.