2011-06-24 WikiLeaks Guardian Data Visualization Maps Death in Afghanistan

As the Obama Administration announces a withdrawing of US troops in Afghanistan, Simon Rogers of the Guardian maps the human losses during the war. *Image at your left via the Guardian.

According to data released by WikiLeaks last year, between 2004 and 2009 24, 498 people died in Afghanistan- over 4,000 of them civilians caught up in the conflict.

The scenario emerging from the map of deaths is breathless. It shows a high rate of enemy and civilian victims followed by Afghan and coalition troops deaths. See the Guardian's Afghanistan war: every death mapped. Click on a dot or arrow at the bottom to zoom into areas of the map, or filter the data by type of casualty.

Map visualizations were also used to were used to visualize the numbers of US soldiers wounded or killed in action. See Afghanistan casualties and deaths by US state: mapped

As early as April 2010, the Telegraph said that WikiLeaks was in possession of and planned to release video of the U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan on May 4, 2009, in the village of Granai last year that left as many as 140 civilians dead, most of them children and teenagers.

In spite of the The Afghan government’s statement that counted 140 civilians killed of which 93 were children and only 22 were adult males, US military always denied to confirm these data.

An earlier probe by the US Military had said that 20-30 civilians were killed along with 60-65 insurgents. More recently, American officials have said “no one will ever be able conclusively to determine the number of civilian casualties that occurred.”

In May 2011, Euronews reported on the mistaken killing of Afghans including including 12 children and two women by NATO forces. See below: