Taliban Whopper: Claim 5,220 Foreign Troops Killed

Propaganda has long been a key element in war, particularly in conflicts where the sides are fighting to win support from the population.

The Taliban exaggerates U.S. or NATO deaths in order to persuade average Afghans that the insurgents are winning, while U.S. and NATO spokesmen frequently highlight construction projects — roads and schools — to Afghan journalists in the hopes that average Afghans will associate foreign troops with increased development.

Related

As Taliban Nears Kabul, Shadow Gov't Takes Hold

US Coalition Says It Kills 11 Taliban in Operation

Afghanistan Could See 30,000 New Troops

NATO rarely releases militant death tolls from battles involving its troops, and military spokesmen often say that it doesn't matter how many militants its forces kill, only that the Afghan government continues to develop.

But the separate U.S. coalition, which is responsible for about 15,000 of the 65,000 foreign troops in the country, releases militant tolls more frequently, leaving the U.S. open to charges of exaggeration. The U.S. relies on reports from battlefield commanders and sometimes uses sophisticated equipment such as thermal radar that can sense the body heat put off by militants — or other people — no longer moving on a battlefield.

After an operation in the western village of Azizabad in August, the U.S. military said 30 militants had been killed. A day later it revised that toll to 25 militants and five civilians.

But amid allegations by the U.N. and the Afghan government that the battle had killed 90 civilians, the U.S. sent a one-star general to investigate, and he found that 22 militants and 33 civilians were killed.

Mojdeh, the Taliban expert, said that while he is sure the Taliban exaggerates its numbers, "I don't know how we can trust the numbers of the Americans."

In 2008 the AP recorded 3,800 militant deaths based on claims primarily from Afghan officials and the U.S. coalition. Afghan officials sometimes say they base their count on bodies recovered from the battlefield, but other times they base their count on "intelligence reports."