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Deadliest month since 2001 in afghanistan { July 2 2008 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2008/07/02/june_deadliest_for_us_in_afghanistan_since_01/http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2008/07/02/june_deadliest_for_us_in_afghanistan_since_01/
June deadliest for US in Afghanistan since '01
By Josh White, Washington Post | July 2, 2008
WASHINGTON - June was the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan since the war there began in late 2001, as resilient and emboldened insurgents have stepped up attacks in an effort to wrest control of the embattled country.
Defense officials and Afghanistan specialists said the 28 US combat deaths recorded in June demonstrate a new resurgence of the Taliban. Taliban units and other insurgent fighters have reconstituted in the country's south and east, aided by easy passage from mountain redoubts in neighboring Pakistan's lawless regions.
The officials and specialists said the spike in troop deaths should not be taken as the only measure of the growing conflict in Afghanistan, but they acknowledged that the Taliban's persistent attacks on military units and civilians have succeeded in frustrating US and international efforts to help the Afghan government secure the country.
"What it points to is that the opposition is becoming more effective," said Barnett Rubin, an Afghanistan analyst at New York University. "It is having a presence in more areas, being better organized, better financed, and having a sustainable strategy."
Violence in rural areas controlled by the Taliban and in eastern provinces along the Pakistan border has surged in recent weeks as insurgents have begun using more improvised bombs, borrowing a tactic honed by insurgents in Iraq. According to top US commanders, the number of violent incidents has increased nearly 40 percent during the first half of 2008, as compared to last year.
The grim total surpassed the 27 troop fatalities in Afghanistan in June 2005. But that total included the 16 troops killed on a single day in a helicopter crash.
The 28 US troops were killed by improvised roadside bombs, small arms fire, rocket attacks, and in unspecified "combat operations." The total nearly equaled the 29 announced troop deaths last month in Iraq, where violence has abated in the wake of the US troop buildup that began last year.
There have been 533 combat deaths to date in Afghanistan, where 32,000 US troops are stationed along with about 30,000 from other countries.
© Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
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