In the decade-long Afghanistan war, 2011 was the deadliest year on record for Afghan civilians with 3,021 killed — a rise of 8 percent from the year before, as Taliban-affiliated insurgents ratcheted up violence with roadside bombs and suicide attacks, according to a new United Nations report.

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Summary: The first half of this year was the deadliest six months for civilians in Afghanistan since the decade-old war began, according to the country’s U.N. mission. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that civilian deaths hit a record high in the first half of this year, up 15 percent on the first six months of 2010, due to roadside and suicide bombings, increased ground fighting, and more deadly air strikes. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on July 17, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that as concerns grew about the war in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton headed to South Asia on a mission aimed at refining the goals of the then nearly 9-year-old conflict.

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Summary: May 2011 was the deadliest month for Afghan civilians since the war began shortly after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, with 368 civilians killed and 593 wounded, according to a U.N. midyear civilian casualty report. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on June 14, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation establishing June 14 as Flag Day, and that President Harry Truman made it official in 1949 when he signed legislation designating June 14 of each year as National Flag Day.

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Summary: NATO says attacks on houses in Afghanistan will continue, after an alliance airstrike killed civilians and prompted harsh condemnation from President Hamid Karzai, who said the U.S.-led ISAF alliance risks becoming seen as “occupying force.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 31, 2010, Aubrey Immelman featured coverage of Memorial Day tributes by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and major news services.

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Summary: The number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year has reached at least 500, compared with 521 in all of 2009, according to the independent monitoring site icasualties.org and a tally compiled by Reuters. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 6, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that opinion polls showed support for President Barack Obama and his policies dipping sharply, though he remained personally more popular than his policies. How will those dynamics impact the 2010 election and what do they tell us about President Obama’s personal qualities and leadership style?

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Summary: The number of civilians killed or wounded in the Afghan conflict rose 31 percent in the first six months of 2010, with anti-government forces causing about three-quarters of the casualties, according to a report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 13, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Marines surging into Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, to protect citizens ahead of the August 20 national election were meeting fierce resistance from the Taliban.

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Summary: July 2010 was Iraq’s deadliest month in more than two years, according to new official figures, suggesting that a resilient insurgency is successfully taking advantage of the months of deadlock in forming a new government. The figures show that 535 people were killed last month, the highest since May 2008 when 563 died. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 1, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that 40 U.S. troops died in Afghanistan in July 2009, by far the heaviest monthly toll up to that point in the war. The worst previous month for U.S. forces had been September 2008, when 26 were killed.

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Summary: President Barack Obama is warning that the war in Afghanistan will get worse before it gets better, but he remains committed to his plan of beginning to withdraw U.S. forces in July 2011. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 13, 2009, Aubrey Immelman summarized and evaluated remarks by Dr. Maureen Reed on May 12, 2009, at a special DFL Minnesota Senate District 14 meeting in St. Joseph, Minn. At the time, Reed was challenging 2008 Democratic candidate Elwyn Tinklenberg for the Democratic Party endorsement in the 2010 Sixth Congressional District race for U.S. Representative against incumbent Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann.

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Summary: U.S. troops raided the home of a female member of the Afghan parliament and killed a neighbor who was one of her relatives, sparking angry protests. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 29, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Iraq was falling fall far behind schedule in creating a system to maintain its own military equipment, costing American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to fill in the gaps, according to a U.S. audit by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. Meanwhile, the death toll from twin car bomb blasts in a crowded Baghdad market rose to 51. The car bombs, which also wounded 76 people in the capital’s sprawling Sadr City slum, followed a series of other attacks in the previous two weeks, stirring fears of a return to broader sectarian bloodshed in Iraq.

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Summary: An increase in terrorist attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan triggered a sharp rise in the number of civilians killed or wounded there last year, pushing South Asia past the Middle East as the top terror region in the world, according to figures compiled by National Counterterrorism Center. The terror threat to the United States is partly a function of the level of violence worldwide, according to Bernard Finel, senior fellow with the American Security Project. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 28, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Staff Sgt. Aaron Larson, who as an 11-year-old boy in St. Joseph was with his best friend Jacob Wetterling when Jacob was kidnapped by a masked gunman on Sunday, Oct. 22, 1989, had returned home to Minnesota after a year-long deployment in Iraq.

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