Skip to content
Subscribe

November war roundup

Published:

Here's a brief summary of war-related operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, and the Korean Peninsula:

Afghanistan- 51 U.S. soldiers died, making it the bloodiest November since the conflict commenced in 2001.  The previous November record was 18, set last year.  Military operations ended up costing an additional $10 billion for the month.  Also, two polls revealed somewhat contradictory results regarding public sentiment.  In a Quinnipiac poll, 33% of Democrats, 40% of Independents, and 64% of Republicans favored a continuation of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.  In a Gallup poll, 54% said things are going badly, although 45% said things are going well, which proved to be the highest level of optimisim in a year and a half.  Passing a milestone, the U.S. has now occupied Afghanistan for a longer period of time than the Soviet Union's nearly ten-year long tenure during the 1980s.  Finally, the Obama administration is now emphasizing a more significant U.S. withdrawal by the end of 2014, instead of the original mid-2011 deadline in which U.S. combat forces were to begin handing over major security operations to Afghan forces.

Iraq- 2 U.S. soldiers died, with one being a direct result of combat operations.  Military operations ended up costing an additional $4 billion for the month.  A new government has loosely formed after an eight-month stalemate, and widespread violence continues to take a devastating toll on the nation's minority Christian community, 1/2 to 2/3 of which has fled the nation since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Pakistan- Drone attacks targeting suspected militants continued at a steady pace, and after much negotiation, the U.S. is now able to expand CIA operations in Quetta, a suspected hotbed of militants.  Suicide bombings increased inside the nation, and though budgetary figures are not available, the US likely spent millions on military-related operations.

Yemen- The Obama administration intensified military preparations and operations inside Yemen, inserting additional drones and pushing to allow special forces personnel to operate from a growing number of forward bases.  Yemen-based Al Qaeda also claimed that it was utilizing low-budget operations to "bleed the enemy to death" with a strategy of "a thousand cuts".

Korean Peninsula- After North Korea's shelling of a South Korean island, tensions escalated as the U.S. sent an aircraft carrier into the Yellow Sea as a show of force.  With 30,000 U.S troops standing between North and South Korea, any major conflict between the two nations would likely pull America into an all-out regional war.  However, as of late, tensions have slightly eased as China, Russia, South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. work toward a diplomatic solution.

Adhere to the IVN etiquette

By posting a comment, you agree to adhere to our etiquette rules: No partisan attacks, no personal attacks, substantiate your sources, no self-promotion.

Contact IVN

Questions about this article or our coverage? Send us a message. A free IVN member account is required.

Message sent

Thanks, we’ll review it and get back to you if needed.

Message not sent

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again.

Sign in to send a message

Messages are tied to your IVN member account. Signing in is free and takes a few seconds.

Contact IVN

Questions about this article or our coverage? Send us a message. A free IVN member account is required.

Message sent

Thanks, we’ll review it and get back to you if needed.

Message not sent

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again.

Sign in to send a message

Messages are tied to your IVN member account. Signing in is free and takes a few seconds.

Republish this article

Republishing guidelines

Republish IVN articles for free. Independent Voter News articles may be republished online or in print under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, on these terms:

  1. Credit the author and IVN. Keep the byline ("By Author Name, Independent Voter News") and the attribution note at the end, which links to the original.
  2. Keep the meaning. You may update time and place references and apply your house style. You may trim for length, as long as the cuts don't change the meaning or misrepresent the author. Keep the headline. Mark any additions as your own (for example "Additional reporting by ...").
  3. Translations are welcome. Translate faithfully, add "Translated from English by [your outlet]", and tell us at editor@ivn.us.
  4. Keep the links, including the link to the original article.
  5. Keep the tracking image. The HTML includes a 1-pixel image that counts readers on your page. It collects no personal information.
  6. Photos and illustrations. Images credited to IVN may be used with this article only. Images credited to others (AP, Getty, Unsplash, Wikimedia and so on) stay under their owners' terms. Secure the rights or switch "Include images" off.
  7. Don't sell it. You can't sell our articles or sell ads specifically against them. Your normal site advertising is fine.
  8. No implied endorsement. Don't suggest that IVN or the author endorses you, your candidates or your causes, or that donations to you support IVN.
  9. Keep labels. Opinion or analysis pieces keep that label.
  10. Point search engines to the original. Where your CMS allows, set the canonical URL to the original IVN article.
  11. No bulk or automated republishing, and don't submit our articles to aggregators (Apple News, Google News, MSN) as your own.
  12. Corrections and removals. Update your copy when we correct it, and remove it promptly if we ask. We'll contact you at the email you give us.
  13. Questions or print republication: editor@ivn.us.

IVN staff: fill in who you're inviting above, then create the invite.

Preparing the article

November war roundup

Choose a format
  • HTML
  • Email HTML
  • Markdown
  • Formatted (.docx)
  • Plain text
  • WordPress blocks
  • PDF
Choose a platform

Photos credited to others need their owners' permission.

To for

Republishing somewhere else? Questions? editor@ivn.us