Afghan War Today

``Afghan Fatalities Rise in Weekend Violence
By ROD NORDLAND
Published: August 29, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan — Seven American soldiers were killed in fighting in eastern and southern Afghanistan over the weekend, after several weeks of declining death tolls among NATO forces.''

``On Sunday, an American soldier was killed by an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan, while another died as a result of an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan, the NATO force said.''

``NATO officials did not release any further details. The incidents brought the monthly death toll among coalition soldiers to 62 as of Aug. 29, compared with 88 in July, according to iCasualties.org, which tracks coalition fatalities. In June, the bloodiest month of the nine-year war, 102 NATO soldiers were killed, according to icasualties.org figures.''

``At the same time, NATO forces have nearly tripled in Afghanistan since the beginning of 2009, with a total of 123,000 now. About 100,000 of them are Americans.''

``“We regret any possible civilian loss of life or injury,” said Brig. Gen. Timothy M. Zadalis of the United States Air Force, who led the assessment team. “Our first objective is to protect the people of Afghanistan, and in this case we may have failed.”''

``In another ISAF investigation into the shooting deaths of two Spanish NATO military instructors and their Spanish-Afghan interpreter, NATO officials said the Afghan policeman who killed them, and who was shot to death in turn, had actually been a “terrorist.” The findings contradicted initial reports that the shooting incident, outside the Spanish-run provincial reconstruction team base in the town of Qaleh Ye Now, Badghis Province, was the result of a dispute between the Spanish team and the Afghan policeman.''

``After the shooting, an angry crowd of several hundred gathered outside the base. The provincial police chief, Sayid Ahmed Samay, said many in the crowd were armed with pistols and grenade launchers and that 25 people were injured during crowd control.''

NYT.

Sad :(