"U.S. Deaths Rise in Afghanistan"
"June Is Deadliest Month for Troops as Country Sees Taliban
Resurgence"
By Josh White
Wa****ngton Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 2, 2008; A01
June was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the
war there began in late 2001, as resilient and emboldened insurgents
have stepped up attacks in an effort to gain control of the embattled
country.
Defense officials and Afghanistan experts said the toll of 28 U.S.
combat deaths recorded last month demonstrates a new resurgence of the
Taliban, the black-turbaned extremists who were driven from power by
U.S. forces 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 neighboring Pakistan's lawless
tribal regions.
The officials and experts said the spike in troop deaths should not be
the only measure of the growing conflict in Afghanistan, but they
acknowledged that the Taliban's persistent attacks on military units
and civilians have frustrated U.S. 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 R. Rubin, an Afghanistan expert at New York University.
"It is having a presence in more areas, being better organized, 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 border with Pakistan has increased in recent weeks
as insurgents have begun using more make****ft bombs, borrowing a
tactic honed by insurgents in Iraq. According to top U.S. commanders,
the number of violent incidents has risen nearly 40 percent during the
first half of 2008 compared with 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 U.S. troops were killed by roadside bombs, small-arms fire and
rocket attacks and in unspecified combat operations. The total nearly
equaled the 29 announced U.S. troop deaths last month in Iraq, where
violence has abated in the wake of the buildup of U.S. forces that
began last year.
There have been 533 U.S. combat deaths to date in Operation Enduring
Freedom, which includes Afghanistan and other areas. About 32,000
American troops are stationed in Afghanistan, along with about 30,000
from other countries. The United States has 145,000 troops in Iraq,
according to the Defense Department.
British troops also experienced one of their worst months for combat
fatalities since the invasion of Afghanistan, with 13 killed in June.
Although the summer traditionally brings increased fighting in
Afghanistan, where mountainous terrain becomes more passable, Pentagon
officials, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, have called
the past month a particularly difficult time.
The department's first congressionally mandated re****t on Afghanistan
last week predicted increased violence throughout 2008. U.S. and
international forces are fighting both an entrenched Taliban and
extremist groups, including al-Qaeda, that are using Pakistani tribal
areas to recruit and train fighters before sending them across the
border.
Defense officials point to the situation in Pakistan as a central
problem. As the Pakistani government has reduced pressure on militants
in largely ungoverned tribal areas, insurgents have increased their
movement and attacks.
"That has proven to be particularly problematic lately," said Geoff
Morrell, the Pentagon's press secretary. As in Iraq, he added, "a
military solution will not suffice. There has to be better governance,
less corruption, more economic development and more vigilance paid to
counternarcotics in order to ultimately bring peace and stability to
Afghanistan."
Seth Jones, a Rand Corp. expert on Afghanistan, said some areas, such
as Helmand province, have experienced an increase in violence because
U.S. troops have moved into areas controlled by insurgents. In some
rural areas, however, insurgents have moved in and are facing little
or no government influence.
"As you track these numbers month by month, you do see peaks and
valleys in levels of violence," Jones said. "It is not surprising to
see peaks in the spring and summer. The biggest concern is the sheer
levels of violence incrementally increasing since 2002. The biggest
concern is that violence levels are higher than they ever have been."
Some experts, including those at the Pentagon, say that the war in
Afghanistan will probably become more violent before it calms, meaning
the next U.S. president could inherit an increasingly bloody conflict.
"A lot of it is psychological warfare, with the belief that what they
have to do is stay in the game," said Marvin G. Weinbaum, an
Afghanistan expert at the Middle East Institute. "They want to draw
attention to themselves as a serious force, with the expectation that
the international community is going to tire of this and is going to
back off."
He added: "They don't expect to take over the country in the short
term; they're playing for the longer term. What they have done
recently is to accelerate the strategy."
Staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this re****t.
http://www.wa****ngtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/01/AR2008070103070.html
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