Senior Fellow at Peterson Institute. Sustainability, security, and political economy. Heart masquerading as head since 1977. You may not believe in climate change, but your insurance company does.
![During the first five years of the war, the vast majority of coalition deaths were American, but between 2006 and 2011, a significant proportion were amongst other nations, particularly the United Kingdom and Canada which had been assigned responsibility for the flashpoint provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, respectively. This is because in 2006, ISAF expanded its jurisdiction to the southern regions of Afghanistan which were previously under the direct authority of the U.S. military. The UK in particular suffered a high number of deaths relative to other countries, having been in charge of the highly hazardous Helmand region;[9] both Denmark and Estonia, which were part of the British-led Task Force Helmand,[10][11] also suffered high death rates, with Danish troops having the highest death rate of any country in the war as of 2009.[12] In later years, Georgia became the largest non-NATO contributor to Afghanistan and paid a heavy toll with the highest casualty rate, with all of the 32 deaths occurring in Helmand.[13]
As Robert Gates pointed out on 10 June 2011, in his "last policy speech" as U.S. Secretary of Defense, "more than 850 troops from non-U.S. NATO members have made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan. For many allied nations these were the first military casualties they have taken since the end of the Second World War."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:t5bzq2l75vef7uzlr3ddtpsx/bafkreifaxcskujucy35s5fozeccuqzeovjhreujjabbtchghqqyijnroa4)
Senior Fellow at Peterson Institute. Sustainability, security, and political economy. Heart masquerading as head since 1977. You may not believe in climate change, but your insurance company does.