Report: US Troop Morale Down in Afghanistan

A U.S. military survey says morale among American troops in Afghanistan has dropped sharply because of increased fighting and multiple deployments.

The army survey says the number of soldiers who reported their unit's morale as being high or very high dropped by nearly half (to 5.7 percent) in 2009, compared to 10.2 percent in the last study in 2007.

Army Surgeon General Lieutenant General Eric Schoomaker says soldiers continue to face stress from multiple deployments into combat.

One in five soldiers in Afghanistan reported psychological problems such as anxiety, depression or acute stress. It also found that a greater number of troops serving there are reporting problems at home, including marriage difficulties.

Separately, the NATO-led alliance in Afghanistan reported Saturday that two U.S. troops and one U.S. civilian were killed in separate bomb attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan Friday.

The army survey also polled troops in Iraq who reported a boost in morale after a drop in fighting in that country.

The army survey was released Friday, a little more than a week after an army psychiatrist, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, allegedly went on a shooting rampage at an army base in the southern state of Texas, killing 13 people. Hasan's relatives say the psychiatrist had wanted to get out of the military.

Authorities have not determined a motive for the shooting.


Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.