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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

[chottala.com] October new deadliest month for US in Afghanistan



October new deadliest month for US in Afghanistan

KABUL — U.S. forces say eight American troops have been killed in multiple bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan. The deaths make October the deadliest month of the war for American troops since it began in 2001.

The U.S. military says the eight deaths Tuesday occurred in "multiple, complex" bomb attacks in the south. One Afghan civilian was also killed, and several other troops were wounded and taken to a nearby medical facility.

The latest deaths bring to 55 the total number of American troops killed in October in Afghanistan. Fighting previously spiked around the presidential vote in August, when 51 U.S. soldiers died.

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Afghan National Army soldiers gather as they prepare to go on patrol in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009. (AP

14 Americans killed in Afghan helicopter crashes Play Video AP  – 14 Americans killed in Afghan helicopter crashes
 

Helicopter crashes kill 14 Americans in Afghanistan

• Hostile fire ruled out in collision that killed three civilians
• US engages in war games for exit strategy

  • Article history
  • A Chinook helicopter approaches British troops during Operation Tyruna in Afghanistan

    A Chinook helicopter approaches troops in Afghanistan. Photograph: MOD/EPA

    Fourteen Americans were killed today in a series of helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, in the deadliest day for the US mission in the country in more than four years.

    Seven US troopers and three US civilians working for the government died when their helicopter went down in western Afghanistan, a US statement said. Eleven American troops, one US civilian and 14 Afghans were also injured. In the south of the country, two US helicopters collided, killing four American troops and wounding two others.

    US authorities have ruled out hostile fire in the collision but have not given a cause for the other crash in the west. The joint force had "searched a suspected compound believed to harbour insurgents conducting activities related to narcotics trafficking in western Afghanistan," Nato said in a statement. "During the operation, insurgent forces engaged the joint force and more than a dozen enemy fighters were killed in the ensuing firefight."

    The Taliban said they shot down a helicopter in Badghis province in north-western Afghanistan, but it was unclear if this was the same incident and the claim could not be verified.

    It was the heaviest loss of life in a single day since 28 June 2005, when 16 US troops on a special forces helicopter died when their MH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down by insurgents.

    US forces also reported the death of two other American troops a day earlier: one in a bomb attack in the east and another who died of wounds sustained in an insurgent attack in the same region.

    The deaths bring to at least 46 the number of US troops killed in October so far. It has been the deadliest year for international and US forces since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban.

    The casualties came as President Barack Obama prepared to meet his national security team for a sixth full-scale conference on the future of the conflict and the Washington Post reported that the US has been engaging in war games, testing the various proposals presented to Barack Obama to end the eight-year war.

    The Obama administration has been re-evaluating its strategy amid falling public support for the conflict and a request by the US commanding officer in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, for tens of thousands more troops.

    The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, oversaw a secret war game this month to evaluate two of the leading military options being assessed by the White House, the Washington Post reported.

    Senior military officials told the paper the exercise examined the likely impact of increasing troop numbers by 44,000 to conduct a full-scale counter-insurgency effort and an alternative strategy of inserting 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers and marines as part of an approach that the military has labelled "counterterrorism plus". Both are based on options presented by McChrystal.

    Military officials told the Washington Post that the war game did not result in one option being endorsed over the other.

    "One of the exercise's key assumptions is that an increase of 10,000 to 15,000 troops would not in the near future give US commanders the forces they need to take back havens from the Taliban commanders in southern and western Afghanistan," the paper reported.

    McChrystal has warned of possible "mission failure" unless more Nato forces are deployed immediately and new tactics are adapted to win local support.

    The White House has said it is awaiting the outcome of the presidential run-off between incumbent Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah before making any decision on troop numbers. Abdullah today called for the election commission chairman, Azizullah Lodin, to be replaced within five days, accusing him of having "no credibility". Lodin has denied accusations he is biased in favour of Karzai, and the election commission's spokesman has already said Lodin cannot be replaced by either side.

    Abdullah made the demand in a news conference during which he spelled out what he said were "minimum conditions" for holding a fair second round of voting, including the firing of any workers implicated in fraud and the suspension of several ministers he said had campaigned for Karzai in the first round before the official campaigning period began.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/26/afghanistan-us-deaths-war-games

    Military: 8 US troops die in Afghan blasts

    msnbc.com - ‎22 minutes ago‎
    ... American troops have been killed in bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, making October the deadliest month for US forces in the eight-year Afghan war. ...

     

     



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