More troops died in Afghanistan than Iraq in June

by Dave Keating | July 1, 2008 at 05:05 am | 179 views | 4 comments

One of the down sides to the military surge in Iraq, which has been heavily reported on in the UK for the last few weeks but hasn't yet been given much attention in the US, is that it has diverted a huge number of resources and troops from Afghanistan. The inevitable effect is that the situation there has deteriorated considerably. June saw, for the first time since the wars began, more troop casualties in Afghanistan than in Iraq, which is truly staggering considering the respective size of the conflicts.

Militants killed more U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan in June than in Iraq for the second straight month, a grim milestone capping a run of headline-grabbing insurgent attacks that analysts say underscore the Taliban's growing strength.

The fundamentalist militia staged a sophisticated jailbreak in June that freed 886 prisoners, then briefly infiltrated a strategic valley outside Kandahar. Last week, a Pentagon report forecast that the Taliban would maintain or increase its pace of attacks, already up 40 percent this year from 2007, where U.S. troops operate along the Pakistan border.

At least 45 international troops, including 27 U.S. forces and 13 British, died in Afghanistan in June, according to an AP count. In Iraq, 31 international soldiers died in June, 29 of them U.S. troops.

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Sanjay Jha

at 05:49 on July 1st, 2008

good stuff:

Dave Keating, I like this story. It's good stuff.

khan26

at 10:29 on July 1st, 2008

good stuff:

Dave Keating, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Barry Artiste

at 10:58 on July 1st, 2008

good stuff:

Dave Keating, I like this story. It's good stuff.

politisite

at 12:27 on July 1st, 2008

good stuff:

Dave Keating, I like this story. It's good stuff. I don't like troops dieing anywhere, but this shows that Iraq is in a better situation now and Afghan is getting worse.