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"An Uzbek pilot spoke of the death last week of an
American soldier who he had become friendly with
while he was on the base. The US serviceman, he
said, had died in the attempt to end the prison riot on
the outskirts of Mazar-e-Sharif two weeks ago. "A
lot of American troops died there - it was a real
battle, " the pilot said."
http://www.gvnews.net/html/WorldReacts/alert488.html
U.S. Casualties Greater Than Pentagon Reports
By Andrei Sukhozhilov
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
KHANABAD, Dec. 7, 2001 -- Scores of U.S. soldiers
wounded in Afghanistan have been arriving at the
Khanabad air base in southern Uzbekistan - far more
than Pentagon reports suggest.
A staging post for special forces' and humanitarian
missions into Afghanistan, the base has become busy
with another task - receiving increasing numbers of
Americans wounded in the fighting.
Uzbek sources at Khanabad suggest that the real
figures of US casualties are far higher than the
Pentagon's official totals. This IWPR reporter, who
smuggled himself onto the facility on December 2,
witnessed soldiers scrambling to meet an incoming
US helicopter. They lifted out five wounded men on
stretchers and loaded them into waiting vehicles.
Uzbek army personnel working at the air base said
scores of US casualties have been arriving there.
>From November 25 to Decemeber 2, an Uzbek orderly
working with American medical staff said he had
witnessed the arrival of four to five US helicopters -
carrying between them 10-15 American casualties -
each day.
The orderly said the US staff he was helping
confirmed the casualties coming off the aircraft were
Americans.
Over the same period of time, the Pentagon has
reported just five injured American servicemen,
wounded in a friendly-fire incident during an
operation to quell a prison riot near Mazar-e-Sharif.
All were evacuated to Khanabad and then on to
Germany.
The Pentagon's official total US casualty toll for the
Afghan conflict is eight dead and 41 injured.
Asked about IWPR's findings, Pentagon spokesperson
Lt Col. Catherine Abbott said, "I cannot comment on
what your reporter may have seen or something an
orderly may have told him. As we verify reports, we
make the information known. . . . . The numbers that
I gave you are the latest that I have."
The IWPR findings come amid US news media
criticism of the Pentagon for allegedly restricting
press coverage of American casualties. Both the
Washington Post and the AP news agency protested
Thursday at the military's apparent decision to
prevent reporters based inside Afghanistan witnessing
the transfer of troops injured when a B-52 bomb
went astray in an air-strike on Kandahar. Three US
special forces soldiers were killed and 19 wounded in
the friendly-fire incident.
This reporter managed to get into the heavily guarded
Khanabad facility with a group of parents visiting
children serving in an Uzbek military unit based at
the airport.
Uzbek military staff at the base told IWPR that it is
increasingly being used as a springboard for
humanitarian missions and special forces' raids into
Afghanistan. They say the former take place during
the day and the latter at night.
At the same time, the airport has been receiving
growing numbers of casualties. The Uzbek sources
say the hospital there - comprising one floor of a
building and four large canvas tents - was full of
wounded US soldiers. They said more tents were
going to be erected to cope with the influx of
casualties.
The Uzbek orderly working with American troops
transferring wounded comrades from helicopters said
the casualties suffered shrapnel and bullet wounds to
the arms, leg and head.
The airport sources could not confirm how many
incoming casualties had died. One Uzbek soldier said
that since October 15 he had helped US servicemen
load 20 body bags onto American transport planes.
But he could not confirm whether they were dead US
soldiers.
But there is other evidence of American fatalities.
One Uzbek officer said US soldiers had told him that
four of their comrades had died of their wounds on
December 1 while being airlifted to Khanabad.
An Uzbek pilot spoke of the death last week of an
American soldier who he had become friendly with
while he was on the base. The US serviceman, he
said, had died in the attempt to end the prison riot on
the outskirts of Mazar-e-Sharif two weeks ago. "A
lot of American troops died there - it was a real
battle, " the pilot said.
Uzbek army personnel say the atmosphere on the base
has changed distinctly in the last week or so.
They say that in October when the Americans began
deploying at the airport, they were gung-ho, telling
their Uzbek counterparts that it would take no more
than a month and a half to defeat the Taleban and
al-Qaeda.
While the Taleban appear to be on their last legs,
al-Qaeda fighters continue to resist in mountain
redoubts, with some US servicemen at Khanabad now
resigned to a long haul.
Uzbek military staff say frustration at this is
noticeable. They say they have witnessed growing
tensions among American troops, often overhearing
arguments and shouting matches.
-- Andrei Sukhozhilov is the pseudonym for a
journalist based in Uzbekistan.
© Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 2001.
All rights reserved.
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