2010 has officially become the deadliest year for NATO coalition forces in Afghanistan.
That somber milestone was reached when nine U.S. troops were killed in a helicopter crash in Zabul province, a southern region that shares a restive border with Pakistan. It also is a troubling statistic as Washington very publicly eyes a July 2011 drawdown date for U.S. forces, which comprise the bulk of the International Security Assistance Force led by U.S. Gen. David Petraeus. Other nations are even more antsy than the Washington to withdraw from the nine-year-old war, which has seen the ousted Taliban holding on as an insurgent force and acting emboldened about a future where international protective forces are gone.
From Agence France-Presse:
"Tuesday's deaths bring to 530 the number of foreign troops killed this year, according to an AFP tally based on the count kept by icasualties.org, surpassing the previous record of 521 deaths in 2009.
A total of 2,098 coalition troops have now died since 2001, when the fall of the hardline Islamist Taliban regime set off a brutal insurgency that has also killed thousands of Afghans.
The US Marines and US Army dominate the foreign forces concentrated in hotspots of the southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul.
After only nine months, 2010 has now become the deadliest year of the long war, with the extra deployment of international forces to nearly 150,000 drawing more battlefield engagements and leading to a spike in casualties.
June was the deadliest month of the war for coalition troops, with 103 fatalities, the tally shows."
The upward trend of coalition deaths started in 2003, but with Afghan security forces that aren't ready to take over, corrupt government that raises red flags every time Afghans risk their necks to go vote, and coalition forces setting withdrawal timetables under pressure from frustrated voters, the situation doesn't look any rosier -- except, perhaps, for the Taliban.
(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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