NATO says 5 soldiers killed in Afghanistan
KABUL |
KABUL (Reuters) - Five soldiers serving with the NATO-led force in Afghanistan were killed on Sunday, including three in a clash with insurgents in the east, the coalition said, one of the worst daily tolls in a month.
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) gave no other details about the incident in Afghanistan's east, including the nationality of those killed. The majority of troops serving in the volatile east are American.
Earlier, ISAF said two of its soldiers had been killed in separate explosions in the south.
The five casualties were the worst suffered by ISAF since October 14, when eight people were killed in five separate incidents. Another six were killed the previous day.
Violence across Afghanistan is at its worst since the Taliban were overthrown by U.S.-backed Afghan forces nine years ago, with civilian and military casualties at record levels despite the presence of about 150,000 foreign troops.
At least 642 ISAF troops, about 440 of them American, have been killed in Afghanistan so far in 2010, by far the deadliest year of the war. Another three were killed on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the fall of the Taliban in Kabul.
The latest casualties will come as a sobering reminder when NATO leaders gather later this week in Lisbon, where Afghanistan will be the top of the agenda.
Many European NATO leaders are feeling increasing pressure to justify their continued support for the drawn-out war.
The deaths also come before U.S. President Barack Obama is set to review his Afghanistan war strategy in December amid sagging public support.
(Reporting by Jonathon Burch and Paul Tait; Editing by Matthew Jones)
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Most of the climbers will fail to make the summit. Every year, some of them die in their attempts. Many, every year, are seriously injured.
Why do they do it? Because they seek the thrill, because they are human. The same reason, today, November 14, Fall season, hundreds of thousands of hunters, are taking to the woods to hunt elk, deer, hogs and ducks. Spending large sums of money for guides, guns, ammo, and supplies.
In Afghanistan, there are no American military draftees. They are all volunteers, just like the mountain climbers and elk hunters. To many, the objective is to “get some”. Those words using the same vernacular used by troops in the American invasion of Vietnam. It means to kill a human. Get some, dude. The ultimate thrill.
Combat tourism. It’s real, but not allowed to be discussed. It’s kept from the press.
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