COMMUNITIES AGAINST CAPITALISM
 

3,500 Civilians Killed in Afghanistan by U.S. Bombs:
University of New Hampshire Economics Professor Releases Study of Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan

DURHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE - December 10 - 

	More than 3,500 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan by U.S. bombs, according to a study 
to be released December 10 by Marc W. Herold, Professor of Economics, International Relations, and 
Women's Studies at the University of New Hampshire. Professor Herold will announce his findings on 
Monday, December 10 in a discussion with award-winning journalist, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! 
in Exile's War and Peace Report (http://www.democracynow.org).

        Professor Herold has been gathering data on civilian casualties since October 7 by culling information 
from news agencies, major newspapers, and first-hand accounts. "I decided to do the study because I 
suspected that the modern weaponrywas not what it was advertised to be. I was concerned that there 
would be significant civilian casualties caused by the bombing, and I was able to find some mention of 
casualties in the foreign press but almost nothing in the U.S. press," said Herold.

        Herold's data will be available at http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwherold/.

        For each day since October 7, when the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan began, he lists the number of 
casualties, location, type of weapon used, and source(s) of information. Following are several examples from 
his daily calculations:

        On October 11, two U.S. jets bombed the mountain village of Karam, comprised of 60 mud houses, 
during dinner and evening prayer time, killing 100-160 people. Sources: DAWN, (English language 
Pakistani daily newspaper), the Guardian of London, the Independent, International Herald Tribune, the 
Scotsman, the Observer, and the BBC News.

        On October 13, in the early morning, an F-18 dropped 2,000 lb. JDAM bombs on the Qila Meer 
Abas neighborhood, 2 kms. South of the Kabul airport, killing four people. Sources: Afghan Islamic Press, 
Los Angeles Times, Frontier Post, Pakistan Observer, the Guardian of London, and the BBC News.

        On October 31, in a pre-dawn raid, an F-18 dropped a 2,000 lb. JDAM bomb on a Red Crescent 
clinic, killing 15 - 25 people. Sources: DAWN, the Times of London, the Independent, the Guardian, 
Reuters, Associated Press, and Agence France Presse.

        Professor Herold has sought whenever possible to cross-corroborate accounts of civilian casualties. 
He relied upon British, Canadian, and Australian newspapers; Indian newspapers, especially The Times of 
India; three Pakistani daily newspapers; the Singapore News; Afghan Islamic Press; Agence France Press; 
Pakistan News Service; Reuters; BBC News Online; Al Jazeera; and a variety of other reputable sources, 
including the United Nations and other relief agencies.

        The Pentagon has repeatedly denied reports of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, and most U.S. media 
outlets have qualified their reports of casualties with the statement "could not be independently confirmed." 
But Professor Herold has been able to confirm the number of casualties and has found that the number is 
climbing toward 4,000. "People have to know that there is a human cost to war, and that this is a war with 
thousands of casualties," said Herold. "These were poor people to begin with, and, on top of that, they had 
absolutely nothing to do with the events of September 11."