British Forces casualties in Afghanistan since 2001 ...
en.wikipedia.org/.../British_Forces_casualties_in_Afghanistan_since_200...
As of 26 April 2014 there has been a total of 453 fatalities of British Forces ... In February 2010, the British death toll in Afghanistan exceeded that of the ...
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This is the fifth Afghan War. The first Afghan War was in 1838, when the British invaded to make Afghanistan part of the Indian empire. The Afghan barons and warlords did not resist. It was the ordinary people who rose up under the leadership of the village mullahs and slaughtered a whole British army. The British left. In 1878 the British invaded once more. Again the warlords did not resist, and there was another Muslim popular uprising. The British left, but kept control of Afghanistan's borders and foreign relations. That was the second Afghan War. In 1919 came the third Afghan War. The Afghan army marched towards India, and the British surrendered before the Afghans lit a fire of Muslim revolt across the subcontinent. Now Afghanistan had full independence. The Afghans had built a tradition. They fought invaders under the banner of Islam, and they won. In 1978 there was a Communist coup by Afghan army officers. The Communists had support in the cities, but little in the villages, where most people lived, and where right wing Islamists and the mullahs led anti-Communist revolts. By 1998 the US government realised that if the Taliban could not control the north, they could never deliver the pipeline. Then came 9/11. In 2001 the US had not invaded a country that resisted in 30 years. They invaded Afghanistan because 9/11 had made the US and the Pentagon look weak. The US dominated the Middle East with fear, and that fear had to be restored. After the Vietnam experience the US population had to be softened up for an invasion. In part, the invasion of Afghanistan was about was winning Americans to the idea of letting their boys and girls die for Washington's foreign policy again. The US government chose to invade Afghanistan first because it was easy - one of the poorest countries on earth. The people had suffered years of invasion and civil war, and the Taliban were unpopular. The US sent in some special forces and bombers, and gave arms and uniforms to the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in the north. And a funny thing happened - no one would fight for the Taliban. And no one would fight for the Northern Alliance either. The Afghans had had enough war and the troops just stood there on the front lines. So Pakistani military intelligence brokered a deal between the US and the Taliban leadership. The US could have Kabul. The Taliban leaders would go free. They could return to their villages or take refuge in tribal Pushtun areas of Pakistan. They would not be arrested or tortured. Bin Laden escaped to Pakistan as part of this deal. It was honoured. The Taliban leaders were not arrested, while the US took Kabul and could tell everyone they had "won". For the first year of the US occupation there was almost no resistance, almost no casualties and no suicide bombing. This is the big difference from Iraq, as Afghans were no longer willing to die for Communists, warlords or Islamists ================================================= Sole British soldier escapes Kabul - History Channel
www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sole-british-soldier-escapes-kabul
Dost Mohammad surrendered to British forces in 1840 after the Anglo-Indian army ... not killed outright in the attack were later massacred by the Afghan soldiers.BBC News - Afghanistan profile - Timeline
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12024253
14 hours ago - A chronology of key events in the history of Afghanistan, from the mid-1800s to the ... British and Indian troops are massacred during retreat from Kabul. ... Islamic punishments, which include stoning to death and amputations.
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