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Afghan chopper crash kills 9
Source: Agencies |
September 22, 2010, Wednesday
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A HELICOPTER crash killed nine troops from the NATO-led force in Afghanistan's south yesterday, making 2010 the deadliest year of the war for foreign troops just as attention turns to plans to start withdrawing them.
Violence is at its worst across Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted by United States-backed Afghan forces in 2001, with military and civilian casualties at record levels.
The crash came soon after one of the deadliest days of the year last Saturday, when the Taliban launched scores of attacks across the country in a bid to disrupt a parliamentary election that has been tarnished by a growing number of fraud complaints.
The country's election watchdog has received almost 3,000 formal complaints about the weekend poll and is mulling extending a Tuesday deadline for submitting grievances because voters and candidates are believed to have thousands more to lodge.
The poll, a test of credibility for the Afghan government, was being closely watched in Washington ahead of US President Barack Obama's planned war strategy review in December, which will likely examine the pace and scale of US troop withdrawals.
Obama's Democrats also face difficult mid-term Congressional elections in November amid sagging public support for the war. Record troop casualties and rampant electoral fraud in Afghanistan will likely only make their task harder.
The crash happened in the volatile southeast, the heartland of the Taliban.
A "large number" of Americans were among those who died in the crash, according to a senior military official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said it remained unclear whether troops of other nationalities were among the fatalities.
The cause was not immediately clear. The Taliban claimed to have shot down the helicopter, but NATO said there were no reports of hostile fire. It happened in Zabul Province - rugged terrain where helicopters are heavily used to transport military troops spread over mountainous areas with few roads.
One other coalition service member, an Afghan National Army soldier and a US civilian were injured.
So far this year, 525 US and NATO forces have been killed in Afghanistan, surpassing the 504 killed last year. This year has been the deadliest for international forces since the war began in 2001.
At least 2,097 foreign troops have been killed since the war began, about 60 percent of them American.
Violence in recent months has soared as the Taliban spread the insurgency out of their heartland in the south and east into once relatively calm areas in the north and west.
At the same time, foreign troops have been increasing the reach and scale of operations to seek out the Taliban, especially in Helmand and Kandahar provinces in the south, and US commanders have warned of more tough times ahead.
There are now almost 150,000 foreign troops fighting a growing Taliban-led insurgency, supporting about 300,000 Afghan security forces.
Violence is at its worst across Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted by United States-backed Afghan forces in 2001, with military and civilian casualties at record levels.
The crash came soon after one of the deadliest days of the year last Saturday, when the Taliban launched scores of attacks across the country in a bid to disrupt a parliamentary election that has been tarnished by a growing number of fraud complaints.
The country's election watchdog has received almost 3,000 formal complaints about the weekend poll and is mulling extending a Tuesday deadline for submitting grievances because voters and candidates are believed to have thousands more to lodge.
The poll, a test of credibility for the Afghan government, was being closely watched in Washington ahead of US President Barack Obama's planned war strategy review in December, which will likely examine the pace and scale of US troop withdrawals.
Obama's Democrats also face difficult mid-term Congressional elections in November amid sagging public support for the war. Record troop casualties and rampant electoral fraud in Afghanistan will likely only make their task harder.
The crash happened in the volatile southeast, the heartland of the Taliban.
A "large number" of Americans were among those who died in the crash, according to a senior military official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said it remained unclear whether troops of other nationalities were among the fatalities.
The cause was not immediately clear. The Taliban claimed to have shot down the helicopter, but NATO said there were no reports of hostile fire. It happened in Zabul Province - rugged terrain where helicopters are heavily used to transport military troops spread over mountainous areas with few roads.
One other coalition service member, an Afghan National Army soldier and a US civilian were injured.
So far this year, 525 US and NATO forces have been killed in Afghanistan, surpassing the 504 killed last year. This year has been the deadliest for international forces since the war began in 2001.
At least 2,097 foreign troops have been killed since the war began, about 60 percent of them American.
Violence in recent months has soared as the Taliban spread the insurgency out of their heartland in the south and east into once relatively calm areas in the north and west.
At the same time, foreign troops have been increasing the reach and scale of operations to seek out the Taliban, especially in Helmand and Kandahar provinces in the south, and US commanders have warned of more tough times ahead.
There are now almost 150,000 foreign troops fighting a growing Taliban-led insurgency, supporting about 300,000 Afghan security forces.
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