Five American soldiers have been killed in a wave of attacks across southern Afghanistan. They died during operations aimed at reversing insurgent gains in parts of the country that were beyond the reach of coalition forces before President Obamas summer surge.
The deaths come as Washington mulls plans to send more troops or, in the words of the top US general in Afghanistan, risk losing the struggle against the insurgents.
Four soldiers were killed in Zabul province on Thursday. Three of them died when their heavily armoured Stryker vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. The fourth was fatally wounded during a fire fight nearby. Meanwhile, a US Marine was killed in Nimroz, in the southwest of the country.
All of the men were part of a troop surge authorised by President Obama earlier this year which took the number of foreign troops in Afghanistan above 100,000 for the first time since the Soviet occupation.
America now has more than 64,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, but a leaked assessment by General Stanley McChrystal, the most senior military commander in Kabul, warned that without more troops the mission would likely result in failure.
The provinces where the soldiers were killed have both been penetrated significantly by the Taleban in recent months.
In Zabul insurgents have closed almost all the schools beyond the provincial capital. Nimroz, which neighbours Helmand, is mostly desert used by heroin traffickers smuggling drugs into Iran. Earlier this year the Taleban executed a young couple there for eloping without their parents permission. It is one of the few provinces without a major military presence.
Military analysts predict that more troops will lead to a short-term spike in casualties, adding to what has already been the bloodiest year for coalition troops in Afghanistan, since 2001. Independent monitors claim that 365 foreign troops have died in Afghanistan this year, compared with 294 in 2008. Of those, 213 were US servicemen. Britain has lost 80 soldiers this year, out of 217 killed since 2001.
Officials insisted that the latest deaths were separate incidents, but they came less than 24 hours after series of US-led operations in Helmand, Kandahar, Kunduz and Wardak designed to disrupt the insurgents. In Helmand and Kandahar, US troops killed several militants, the coalition said in a statement.
In a separate operation in Khost province, in the east, US troops arrested six suspected militants at a logistics hub that produces insurgent propaganda.
General McChrystals 66-page report urged the White House to support a new strategy in Afghanistan, which includes a renewed focus on the "information war".
Five US soldiers die in wave of attacks across southern Afghanistan - Times Online
The deaths come as Washington mulls plans to send more troops or, in the words of the top US general in Afghanistan, risk losing the struggle against the insurgents.
Four soldiers were killed in Zabul province on Thursday. Three of them died when their heavily armoured Stryker vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. The fourth was fatally wounded during a fire fight nearby. Meanwhile, a US Marine was killed in Nimroz, in the southwest of the country.
All of the men were part of a troop surge authorised by President Obama earlier this year which took the number of foreign troops in Afghanistan above 100,000 for the first time since the Soviet occupation.
America now has more than 64,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, but a leaked assessment by General Stanley McChrystal, the most senior military commander in Kabul, warned that without more troops the mission would likely result in failure.
The provinces where the soldiers were killed have both been penetrated significantly by the Taleban in recent months.
In Zabul insurgents have closed almost all the schools beyond the provincial capital. Nimroz, which neighbours Helmand, is mostly desert used by heroin traffickers smuggling drugs into Iran. Earlier this year the Taleban executed a young couple there for eloping without their parents permission. It is one of the few provinces without a major military presence.
Military analysts predict that more troops will lead to a short-term spike in casualties, adding to what has already been the bloodiest year for coalition troops in Afghanistan, since 2001. Independent monitors claim that 365 foreign troops have died in Afghanistan this year, compared with 294 in 2008. Of those, 213 were US servicemen. Britain has lost 80 soldiers this year, out of 217 killed since 2001.
Officials insisted that the latest deaths were separate incidents, but they came less than 24 hours after series of US-led operations in Helmand, Kandahar, Kunduz and Wardak designed to disrupt the insurgents. In Helmand and Kandahar, US troops killed several militants, the coalition said in a statement.
In a separate operation in Khost province, in the east, US troops arrested six suspected militants at a logistics hub that produces insurgent propaganda.
General McChrystals 66-page report urged the White House to support a new strategy in Afghanistan, which includes a renewed focus on the "information war".
Five US soldiers die in wave of attacks across southern Afghanistan - Times Online
