turning the war around in Iraq
it turned to Afghanistan.
June is deadliest month for troops in Afghanistan war
Forty-five international troops are slain. The number surp***** the
monthly
total in Iraq for the second straight month.
From the Associated Press
July 1, 2008
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN -- At least 45 international troops, including at
least
27 Americans, died in Afghanistan in June, the deadliest month since the
2001 U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban, according to an Associated
Press
count.
It was also the second straight month in which militants killed more U.S.
and NATO troops in Afghanistan than in Iraq.
The Taliban in June staged a sophisticated jailbreak that freed about 900
prisoners, then briefly overran a strategic valley outside Kandahar. Last
week, a Pentagon re****t forecast the fundamentalist Islamic militia would
maintain or increase its attacks, which are already up 40% this year from
2007 in areas where U.S. troops operate along the Pakistani border.
In Iraq, at least 31 international soldiers died in June: 29 U.S. troops
and one each from the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Azerbaijan.
There are 144,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, along with 4,000 from Britain and
small contingents from several other nations.
The 40-nation international coalition is much broader in Afghanistan,
where
only about half of the 65,000 international troops are American.
U.S. Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser, the top commander of U.S. forces
here, said in June that militant attacks were becoming more complex --
such
as gunfire from multiple angles plus a roadside bomb. Insurgents are using
more explosives, he said.
Mark Laity, the top NATO spokesman in Afghanistan, said troops were
taking
the fight to insurgents in remote areas and putting themselves in harm's
way. One or two events can dispro****tionately affect the monthly death
toll,
he said.
In June, at least 13 British troops were killed, along with at least two
Canadians and one person each from Poland, Romania and Hungary.
The AP count found that about 580 people died in insurgent violence last
month, including about 440 militants, 34 civilians and 44 members of the
Afghan security forces. More than 2,100 people have died in violence this
year, according to the AP count, which is based on figures from Afghan,
U.S.
and NATO officials.
On Monday, an Afghan official said U.S.-led forces backed by warplanes
killed 28 militants in southwestern Afghanistan, including several Taliban
commanders.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization said it killed several more
insurgents in coordination with Pakistani forces along the mountainous
border, and three members of the U.S.-led coalition died when their
vehicle
rolled into a riverbed Sunday.
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