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Reality_Check© · Guest

US casualties point to Taliban resurgence

JUNE was the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan since the war
there began in late 2001.

The figures came as a coalition helicopter was shot down south of Kabul
yesterday and a suicide car bomber hit a convoy of NATO forces last night,
wounding two Canadian soldiers, three policemen and two civilians on a road
near the southern town of Spin Boldak, on the border with Pakistan.

The Black Hawk helicopter landed safely and all on board were evacuated
before it caught fire in the Kharwar district of Logar province, where
Taliban militants are known to be active.

US defence officials and Afghanistan experts said the 28 US combat deaths
last month demonstrate a resurgence of the Taliban, driven from power almost
seven years ago. Taliban units and other insurgent fighters have
reconstituted in the country's south and east, aided by easy passage from
mountain redoubts in neighbouring Pakistan's tribal areas.

The officials and experts 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 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 expert at New York University. "It is having a
presence in more areas, being better organised, better financed and having a
sustainable strategy. In all, their strategic situation has improved."

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% this year.

British troops also had one of their worst months for combat fatalities
since the invasion of Afghanistan, with 13 killed last month. The Pentagon's
first congressionally mandated report on Afghanistan last week predicted
increased violence throughout this year. Continued...