"We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat."

--General Stanley A McChrystal, in reference to people shot and killed at checkpoints in Afghanistan.

Poor choice of words by the General, but I know what he is trying to say and I would like to know the exact context in which his statement was made.

"We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none subsequently proved to be a threat."

Have potential suicide bombers been stopped at Check-Points? To my certain knowledge yes they have. Have potential suicide bombers been killed at Check-Points? To my certain knowledge yes they have.

36 civilians were shot in Check-Point incidents in 2009; 41 in 2008. The article states that since last June to date there have been 95 incidents in which 30 people lost their lives.

The highest figure put on casualties since October 2001 stands at 32,969. Just putting this figure into prespective when the Khalq faction of the communist PDPA mounted their bloody coup to take over Afghanistan in April 1978, between that date and October 1978 the Khalq faction of the PDPA had murdered 38,000 political opponents, tribal leaders, teachers and village mullahs.

Overall somewhere between 75% and 79% of civilian deaths in Afghanistan are due to insurgent activity (Car bombs, suicide bombings, IED's, direct attacks on the civil population and punishment/reprisal killings) It is to reduce this level of violence against the civilian population that Check-Points are set up and manned.

Last year in Afghanistan 2,412 civilians were killed, 596 were killed by ISAF/ASF forces (359 died as result of airstrikes; 201 in cross-fire/combat operations; 36 at Check-Points). So 1.5% of civilians killed in Afghanistan are killed in Check-Point incidents, How much larger would the number of Afghans killed be if there were no Check-Points? How many more suicide bombers or car bombs would get through?

The number of incidents has diminished and they will continue to go down as more and more of these Check-Points are manned by ASF as opposed to ISAF/US Troops. There are rules for approaching such Check-Points and it is wise to follow them, visual and verbal warnings are given, should they fail warning shots are fired. In the case of convoys, particularly US convoys, these are just not approached at all even by other ISAF Units.