President Obama just can't help giving himself a big pat on the back, even when things don't happen the way he says they did. Last week, President Obama issued an apology to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the inadvertent burning of Korans and other religious materials at Bagram Air Base. The Afghan people responded by violently taking to the streets while an Afghan soldier murdered two of our troops. Since then, six U.S. soldiers have been killed by Afghan soldiers out of anger about the Koran burning. Instead apologizing to the United States for the actions, Karzai instead called for the military members who inadvertently burned the Koran to be put on trial in Afghanistan for the incident.
Last night, President Obama told ABC news his apology actually "calmed things down."
President Obama said his formal apology to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the burning of Korans by U.S. troops last week has "calmed things down" after the incident sparked an outbreak of violence across the country.
"We're not out of the woods yet," Obama said in an exclusive interview with ABC News' Bob Woodruff at the White House. "But my criteria in any decision I make, getting recommendations from folks who are actually on the ground, is what is going to best protect our folks and make sure that they can accomplish their mission."
Obama said his letter to Karzai aimed to curb further danger to U.S. troops on the ground. It reportedly expressed regret for the apparently inadvertent burning of the Korans, the sacred text of Islam, on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.
Still, the president's critics and some members of the military have questioned the appropriateness of the move, given the subsequent murder of two U.S. military officers at the hands of an Afghan inside one of the capital's secure ministry buildings.
Does President Obama really consider the continued murder rampage of our troops by Afghan soldiers over an accidental burning, "calm?" Apparently so.
Just this morning, after Obama's comments last night, two American troops were shot and killed. Something that doesn't get mentioned much, is the fact that under President Obama's watch, casualties of American troops in Afghanistan have skyrocketed.
The shootings on Thursday were the latest in a series of attacks by Afghan security forces — or militants disguised in their uniforms — against Americans and other members of the international alliance. Last month the Pentagon released data showing that 75 percent of the more than 45 insider attacks since 2007 occurred in the last two years.
More from CNSNews on the numbers:
The average monthly casualty rate for U.S. military forces serving in Afghanistan has increased 5-fold since President Barack Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009.
1,540 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since Oct. 7, 2001, when U.S. forces began fighting in that country to oust the Taliban regime that had been harboring al Qaeda and to track down and capture or kill al Qaeda terrorists.
During the Bush presidency, which ended on Jan. 20, 2009 with the inauguration of President Obama, U.S. troops were present in Afghanistan for 87.4 months and suffered 570 casualties—a rate of 6.5 deaths per month.
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