WASHINGTON – Grappling with a record death toll in an overshadowed war, President Bush promised yesterday to send more U.S. troops into Afghanistan by year's end. He conceded that June was a “tough month” in the nearly seven-year-old war.
In fact, it was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the conflict began.
“One reason why there have been more deaths is because our troops are taking the fight to a tough enemy, an enemy who doesn't like our presence there because they don't like the idea of America denying safe haven (to terrorists),” Bush told reporters. “Of course there's going to be resistance.”
Bush said it was a tough month for the Taliban, too. But the once-toppled Islamist regime in Afghanistan has rebounded with deadly force.
More U.S. and NATO troops have died in the past two months in Afghanistan than in Iraq, which has triple the number of U.S. and coalition forces. In June, 28 U.S. troops died in Afghanistan. That was the highest monthly total of the entire war, which began in October 2001. For the full U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan the death toll in June was 46, also the highest of the war.
The Pentagon predicts the pace of attacks in Afghanistan by a resurgent Taliban is likely to rise this year, despite U.S.-led efforts to capture key leaders. “We're going to increase troops by 2009,” Bush said, without offering details about exactly when or how many.
It amounted to a reiteration of a promised buildup of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by Bush. He said coalition forces have doubled in number over two years, and pledged that the twin strategy of fighting extremists and supporting Afghanistan's civil development “is going to work.”
The Pentagon's top military officer said yesterday that if security continues to improve in Iraq, he hopes to have troops available to shift to Afghanistan by the end of this year. Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said more troops are essential to stem the violence, but added that “there's no easy solution, and there will be no quick fix.”
Overall, roughly 32,000 U.S. troops are in Afghanistan, including 14,000 serving with NATO forces and 18,000 conducting training and counterinsurgency. That's the largest U.S. presence since the war began.
Afghanistan, not Iraq, was the original target after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The United States led the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime in late 2001 for providing haven to terrorists, including al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
In Afghanistan yesterday, a bomber targeting the governor of Nimroz province, Ghulam Dastagir Azad, blew himself up near the governor's convoy, killing three police officers and a civilian. Azad said he was not wounded.
Also yesterday, a U.S.-led coalition UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crew escaped without serious injury after the aircraft was shot down in the Kherwar district of Logar province south of the capital, officials said.
