For the first time since the U.S launched the invasion of Iraq in 2003, August of this year has been the only month to have no fatalities, according to the U.S Department of Defense.
After the devastating news that June of this year was the most deadly month in two years – after militants ramped up attacks on American forces and 15 troops were killed – this comes as a positive change for the U.S forces.
The independent group icasualties.org - which counts the fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan on a monthly basis - were the first to say that there had been no death occurrences. The Department of Defense later confirmed the reports to the NBC News.
It is suspected that the U.S forces have suffered a total of around 4,477 casualties since the invasion of Iraq began.
Although President Barack Obama declared an end to the combat phase of the U.S involvement in Iraq a year ago (on the 31st August 2010) approximately 48,000 troops still remain in the country. They are expected to withdraw by the end of the year but it is rumored that Iraq may request that some soldiers remain behind to continue training Iraq security forces beyond the end of 2011.
Though it’s not all progress. As the world grows ever closer to marking the 10 year anniversary of the September 11th attacks, the news in Afghanistan seems to be on a downward spiral. Opposite to it’s brothering war in Iraq, August – when 67 troops were killed - was the worst month for the U.S forces in nearly the nearly 10 year old war in Afghanistan. This surpasses the previous record of 65 killed in July 2010, according to tallies by both icasualties.org and the AP.
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