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Sep 1st, 2010


5 More American Troops Die in Afghan Fighting

Spike in bloodshed claims 19 American lives in 4 days


In this Aug. 25, 2010 photo, U.S. and Afghan army soldiers on patrol in Zhari district, northeast of Kandahar city, southern Afghanistan. Since the war began, the countryside surrounding Kandahar has been marked as the heartland of the Taliban, the insurgents’ springboard to retake all of Afghanistan. Now, as U.S. and allied forces wrestle with diehard insurgents on booby-trapped fields and roads, the battle for Kandahar is being described as the decisive campaign, a linchpin of American strategy to win the nine-year-old conflict. (Photo credit: Brennan Linsley / AP)

By Robert H. Reid

Aug. 31, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan — Five more American troops were killed in action in Afghanistan on Tuesday, ending the month with a spike in bloodshed that has claimed the lives of 19 U.S. service members in only four days.

The U.S. death toll for August stood at 55 — three-quarters of them in the second half of the month as the Taliban fight back against U.S. pressure in southern and eastern strongholds. American losses accounted for more than 70 percent of the 76 fatalities suffered by the entire NATO-led force.

NATO said four of the Americans were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, while a fifth died in a gunfight with insurgents in the country’s south. No other details were released.

Until the late month spike, it appeared that the death toll for August would be well below the back-to-back monthly records of 66 in July and 60 in June. …

As the U.S. formally ends its combat role in the Iraq war, NATO and Afghan forces are ramping up operations in Afghanistan, especially in the area around Kandahar City, the Taliban birthplace and their former headquarters until they were ousted from power in the U.S.-led invasion of 2001.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen, Denmark, that higher casualties were inevitable because more troops have arrived in Afghanistan in recent weeks, bringing the overall alliance force to more than 140,000 — including 100,000 Americans. The U.S. figure is more than triple the number of American service members in Afghanistan at the beginning of last year. …

Video

Deadly month for Americans in Afghanistan (NBC Nightly News, Aug. 30, 2010) — In an ominous new tactic, some Afghan insurgents are dressing in American uniforms purchased in Kabul or other towns. NBC’s Tom Aspell reports. (01:15)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — September 1, 2009

Image: An afghan man whose nose and ears were cut off by the Taliban
Afghan farmer Lal Mohammad, who claims his nose and ears were cut of by the Taliban. (Photo credit: Massoud Hossaini / AFP — Getty Images)

Iraq-Afghanistan Casualties

One year ago today, I provided my weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan and reported that with 52 U.S. troops killed, August 2009 became the deadliest month of the deadliest year yet in the Afghanistan war; that the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan called for a new strategy against the Taliban in an assessment of the 8-year-old conflict ordered by the U.S. Secretary of Defense; and that the number of civilians killed in Iraq shot up to 393 in August 2009, the highest level since April 2009, after a spate of mass-casualty bombings caused carnage in Baghdad and northern Iraq.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — September 1, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day 49 (Labor Day)

Patrick (2) fishing from a constituent's dock during a campaign swing to Little Rock Lake in Benton County, Sept. 1, 2008, for an update on shoreline restoration and water quality issues.
Patrick (2) fishing from a constituent’s dock during a campaign swing to Little Rock Lake in Benton County.

Two years ago today, on the 49th day of my 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I visited the St. Stephen Parish Festival with my four children. Afterwards, we made a detour through Rice on the way home to Sartell, for an update on shoreline restoration and water quality issues on Little Rock Lake in Benton County.





4 Responses to “Taliban Slaughter in Afghanistan”
  1. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » $1,000 Bounty for Dead Americans Says:

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  2. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Record Afghan War Dead Says:

    […] Taliban Slaughter in Afghanistan (Sept. 1, 2010) […]

  3. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Afghanistan War Cost Too High Says:

    […] Taliban Slaughter in Afghanistan (Sept. 1, 2010) […]

  4. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » September 1, 2011 Says:

    […] Taliban Slaughter in Afghanistan […]

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