(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN

It’s been ten years since the start of the war in Afghanistan. And the media rolled out the coverage -- ticking off numbers, talking to veterans and bringing on analysts.

NBC REPORTER: “To date more than 1,800 U.S. Soldiers have died and more than 13,000 have been wounded. The war on the Taliban and al Qaeda has cost American taxpayers more than $400 billion.”
CORPSMAN ON CBS: “You have got do your job perfectly because if you don't, the guy next to you or the guy behind you is going to get shot.”

Some reports, like an ABC piece run by affiliate KGTV, take a forward-looking approach: What happens when coalition forces leave by the end of 2014?

The report followed an Afghan man who told the network he lives in fear of his life whilesupporting U.S. efforts.

“Ten years after the war many Afghans say security is getting worse. We filmed these Taliban fighters and a former us base 60 miles from Kabul. For Afghans working for the U.S. there is a target on their backs.”

And on MSNBC, Atia Abawi also takes the “what happens next” approach but paints a gloomier picture.

“When you go to the majority of Afghanistan, rural villages and districts and provinces, they'll tell you that in the last ten years, the1007y haven't seen much difference, they've seen an increased insurgency, they see the Taliban coming back. And guess what? The Afghans have turned more and more towards the Taliban, not necessarily because they want the Taliban back in power, but because they're afraid that once the international community leaves, that they're going to be the ones left to deal with the Taliban.”

And CBS was one of the few networks to speak to actual veterans about the war, and it highlights the results of a recent poll.

“A recent CBS news poll say the war have not been a success. We will talk to two veterans coming up and both of them say they are glad they went to Afghanistan.”

CNN also took to polls in its coverage.

“As a whole, you know, if you want to sum it up, it's not a popular war at this point. You know, if you take a look at some of these statistics from the Pew Research Center. This is polling Americans as a whole, attitudes of the American public. … 52% Believe the war was not worth it.”

But media critics say, with few exceptions, coverage of the Afghan war is scant. In fact The New York Times’ Brian Stelter pointed this out in December of 2010, when he noted it only accounted for four percent of coverage in major news outlets.

In a statement released Friday President Obama said Americans are “safer … and more secure” because of the effort in Afghanistan.

Transcript by Newsy.