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Titolo: U.S. Deaths Rise in Afghanistan

U.S. Deaths Rise in Afghanistan
June Is Deadliest Month for Troops as Country Sees Taliban Resurgence
By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 2, 2008; A01
June was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the war
there began in late 2001, as resilient and emboldened insurgents have
stepped up attacks in an effort to gain control of the embattled country.
Defense officials and Afghanistan experts said the toll of 28 U.S. combat
deaths recorded last month demonstrates a new resurgence of the Taliban,
the black-turbaned extremists who were driven from power by U.S. forces
almost seven years ago. Taliban units and other insurgent fighters have
reconstituted in the country's south and east, aided by easy passage from
mountain redoubts in neighboring Pakistan's lawless tribal regions.
The officials and experts said the spike in troop deaths should not be the
only measure of the growing conflict in Afghanistan, but they acknowledged
that the Taliban's persistent attacks on military units and civilians have
frustrated U.S. and international efforts to help the Afghan government
secure the country.
"What it points to is that the opposition is becoming more effective,"
said Barnett R. Rubin, an Afghanistan expert at New York University. "It
is having a presence in more areas, being better organized, better
financed and having a sustainable strategy. In all, their strategic
situation has improved."
Violence in rural areas controlled by the Taliban and in eastern provinces
along the border with Pakistan has increased in recent weeks as insurgents
have begun using more makeshift bombs, borrowing a tactic honed by
insurgents in Iraq. According to top U.S. commanders, the number of
violent incidents has risen nearly 40 percent during the first half of
2008 compared with last year.
The grim total surpassed the 27 troop fatalities in Afghanistan in June
2005. But that total included the 16 troops killed on a single day in a
helicopter crash.
The 28 U.S. troops were killed by roadside bombs, small-arms fire and
rocket attacks and in unspecified combat operations. The total nearly
equaled the 29 announced U.S. troop deaths last month in Iraq, where
violence has abated in the wake of the buildup of U.S. forces that began
last year.
There have been 533 U.S. combat deaths to date in Operation Enduring
Freedom, which includes Afghanistan and other areas. About 32,000 American
troops are stationed in Afghanistan, along with about 30,000 from other
countries. The United States has 145,000 troops in Iraq, according to the
Defense Department.
British troops also experienced one of their worst months for combat
fatalities since the invasion of Afghanistan, with 13 killed in June.
Although the summer traditionally brings increased fighting in
Afghanistan, where mountainous terrain becomes more passable, Pentagon
officials, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, have called the
past month a particularly difficult time.
The department's first congressionally mandated report on Afghanistan last
week predicted increased violence throughout 2008. U.S. and international
forces are fighting both an entrenched Taliban and extremist groups,
including al-Qaeda, that are using Pakistani tribal areas to recruit and
train fighters before sending them across the border.
Defense officials point to the situation in Pakistan as a central problem.
As the Pakistani government has reduced pressure on militants in largely
ungoverned tribal areas, insurgents have increased their movement and
attacks.
"That has proven to be particularly problematic lately," said Geoff
Morrell, the Pentagon's press secretary. As in Iraq, he added, "a military
solution will not suffice. There has to be better governance, less
corruption, more economic development and more vigilance paid to
counternarcotics in order to ultimately bring peace and stability to
Afghanistan."
Seth Jones, a Rand Corp. expert on Afghanistan, said some areas, such as
Helmand province, have experienced an increase in violence because U.S.
troops have moved into areas controlled by insurgents. In some rural
areas, however, insurgents have moved in and are facing little or no
government influence.
"As you track these numbers month by month, you do see peaks and valleys
in levels of violence," Jones said. "It is not surprising to see peaks in
the spring and summer. The biggest concern is the sheer levels of violence
incrementally increasing since 2002. The biggest concern is that violence
levels are higher than they ever have been."
Some experts, including those at the Pentagon, say that the war in
Afghanistan will probably become more violent before it calms, meaning the
next U.S. president could inherit an increasingly bloody conflict.
"A lot of it is psychological warfare, with the belief that what they have
to do is stay in the game," said Marvin G. Weinbaum, an Afghanistan expert
at the Middle East Institute. "They want to draw attention to themselves
as a serious force, with the expectation that the international community
is going to tire of this and is going to back off."
He added: "They don't expect to take over the country in the short term;
they're playing for the longer term. What they have done recently is to
accelerate the strategy."
Staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.
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 June Is Deadliest Month for Troops as Country Sees Taliban Resurgence
si danno il cambio con la resistenza irakena...