Operation Enduring Freedom Marks a Grim Milestone

Posted on Jun 14, 2012

U.S. Marine Cpl. Reagan Lodge

A volunteer sets up flags this month at a memorial to Ohio service members killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

After more than a decade of fighting in Afghanistan, the U.S. death toll in Operation Enduring Freedom has reached 2,000. Marine Cpl. Taylor J. Baune, 21, from Andover, Minn., had married just three months before shipping out. Baune died in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province on June 13, according to the Department of Defense.

Operation Enduring Freedom began in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America when President George W. Bush unleashed U.S. warplanes and cruise missiles against targets in Afghanistan.

—Posted by Tracy Bloom

CNN:

The operation began with the invasion of Afghanistan and the toppling of the Taliban, which harbored the al Qaeda terror network that conducted the [9/11] attacks. But there were military actions and activities in other countries, nearby and far-flung.

Most coalition casualties have occurred in Afghanistan, but others occurred in Pakistan, Uzbekistan. Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines, Seychelles, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Yemen.

The number of Americans who’ve died in Afghanistan itself totals 1,884.

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