I saw some fresh figures on 2009 civilian casualties in Afghanistan this week from the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). They are, I’m betting, on the generous side both when it comes to counting casualties as “civilian,” and counting “civilian casualties” as American-caused.

The underreported news is, air strikes in Afghanistan, widely depicted as indiscriminate American causes of Afghan outrage, account for only 20 percent of the total. Suicide attacks and roadside bombs, attributable to jihadists, killed 39 percent. Assassinations — another Taliban specialty — claimed 11 percent, while “other,” divided between pro- and anti- government forces, was responsible for 29 percent.

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