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| Afghanistan |
| Seven Western troops killed in Afghanistan |
| 2009-08-07 |
| FOUR American and three British soldiers have been killed in attacks in Afghanistan in the past 24 hours. The American service members were killed when their vehicle struck a homemade bomb yesterday, the US military said. A US military spokesman said the incident took place in Helmand province in the south. But spokeswoman Lieutenant Commander Christine Sidenstricker later said it took place in a nearby area to the west. The NATO-led International Security and Assistance force said the British troops were killed by a homemade bomb followed by an ambush in the south, also yesterday. A fourth soldier remains in a critical condition. The deaths brought the toll for the first week of August to 18 foreign troops, including 11 Americans, on pace to match the previous month, by far the deadliest of the war with 76 international fatalities. More US and allied troops have died in Afghanistan since the beginning of March than in the entire period from 2001-2004. There are now more than 100,000 Western troops in Afghanistan, including about 62,000 Americans - nearly double the US strength at the start of the year as President Barack Obama has escalated the conflict in a bid to turn the tide. I don't think it will be too long before the exit from Afghanistan begins. The main thing preventing it is that it would leave the bad neocon war in Iraq won and the good UN approved war in Afghanistan lost. |
| Posted by:phil_b |