Violence in Iraq and Afghanistan- Pre and Post “Surge”: PART III

While there has been a shift in percent change in violence from Iraq to Afghanistan, in total violence, Afghanistan is dwarfed by Iraq. Since the surge, the total number of attacks in Iraq is equal to 5465 attacks while Afghanistan is at 1104 attacks. Tables 1 and 2 support this conclusion. The figure below provides a visual perspective of Tables 1 and 2 and highlights the difference in the magnitude of Attacks between Iraq and Afghanistan and for the pre and post-surge periods.

Figure 3: Total Violence, Pre and Post-Surge, For Afghanistan and Iraq.

In order to communicate the trends spatially, the data was downloaded from Finder! as a shape file and then used in ESRI’s ArcScene to create three dimensional maps. The maps below show where in each country the levels of attacks and fatalities have been the highest. Darker red hues indicate higher numbers of fatalities and the heights of the polygons depict the number of attacks. The maps look down on Iraq and Afghanistan from the north and northeast. One can see that in both the pre and post-surge periods, the distribution of attacks and fatalities is spatially skewed. In Iraq the highest levels have been in the northern and eastern provinces, while in Afghanistan they have been in the southern and southeastern areas.


Figure 4: Number of Attacks and Fatalities Pre-Surge (Finder! link)


Figure 5: Number of Attacks and Fatalities Post-Surge (Finder! link)