US Troops in Afghanistan Counter
Keep track of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan with our web counter.
Last Update
April 24, 2012. Updated monthly. See the Source section below for more information.
Embed the counter on your website
Simply copy the following code and paste it on your website, blog, or wherever! Once you've posted the counter, let us know and we'll add you to our upcoming counter hosts page. Email us at info [at] justforeignpolicy [dot] org.
Why we made this counter
As President Obama's drawdown is implemented, we wish to raise awareness about the number of US troops left in Afghanistan. We believe that many people do not realize how many troops are in the country, nor do they realize how slow and insufficient the planned drawdown is. By inviting others to post the counter, we hope to spread the word about the work that remains to extract the US military from Afghanistan.
Source
Our source for current troop levels is the Brookings Institution's Afghanisitan Index, which is updated at the end of each month. As a consequence, our counter will be updated monthly. Note that the number of troops will not change every month, and that the date of our last update indicates which Afghanistan Index our count reflects.
There are two missions in Afghanistan: the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is under the authority of NATO, and an additional US mission, part of Operation Enduring Freedom. There are US troops dedicated to both of these missions.
Brookings's Afghanistan Index is the only updating, publicly accessible source that we know of whose figure includes both the number of US troops that are organized under ISAF as well as Operation Enduring Freedom. The Department of Defense website, on the other hand, only supplies the troop levels for the NATO mission.
