27/06/2010 NATO on Sunday reported another foreign occupation soldier killed fighting in the Afghan war as the death toll for what is already a record month climbed higher.
The death following a Taliban-style attack using a crude bomb known as an improvised explosive device (IED) happened Saturday in southern Afghanistan, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. It comes after NATO reported Saturday that five occupation soldiers were killed in similar attacks in the volatile south, bringing the total for the day to six.
The nationalities of the dead soldiers were not disclosed, but the vast majority of foreign troops in Afghanistan are from the United States.
The deaths bring to 311 the total number of soldiers to die in Afghanistan so far this year, with the number killed in June alone at 91, by far the deadliest monthly toll since the war began in late 2001.
In this context, CIA chief Leon Panetta said Sunday that the United States is making progress in Afghanistan but the war has been "harder and slower than anyone anticipated."
The nearly nine-year-old war has been "a very tough fight. We are making progress. But it's harder and slower than anyone anticipated," he told the ABC network's "This Week" program.
Panetta, installed last year as President Barack Obama's Central Intelligence Agency chief, stressed that "the fundamental key is whether the Afghans accept responsibility" for taking over the battle against the insurgency once foreign troops pull out of the country.
The US and NATO have 140,000 occupation troops in Afghanistan, set to peak at 150,000 by August, as the allies aim to escalate efforts to drive the Taliban from their heartland in southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces.
3 NATO Occupation Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan: ISAF
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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