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US Soldiers Killed in Latest Afghan Violence

   VOA News 31 August 2010
   U.S. and Afghan soldiers gather at the scene of a roadside bomb attack
   in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 30 Aug 2010

Photo: AP

   U.S. and Afghan soldiers gather at the scene of a roadside bomb attack
   in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 30 Aug 2010

   NATO  says  insurgents  have  killed  five  U.S.  soldiers in separate
   attacks  in  Afghanistan,  continuing  a  string  of  deadly  days for
   American troops.

   Four  of the soldiers were killed Tuesday in a roadside bombing in the
   east, while the other soldier was killed during an insurgent attack in
   the  south.  Seven American troops and an Estonian soldier were killed
   by roadside bombs on Monday.
   U.S. President Barack Obama warned Tuesday of a "tough fight" ahead in
   Afghanistan,  with more casualties likely.  He spoke to troops in the
   southern  U.S.  state  of  Texas  ahead of a speech marking the end of
   combat operations in Iraq.

   The  head  of  U.S.  and  NATO  forces  in  Afghanistan, General David
   Petraeus,  said  Tuesday Taliban militants were still trying to expand
   their  influence  in  parts  of  Afghanistan, even as coalition forces
   close   in   on  their  southern  strongholds.  Petraeus  acknowledged
   insurgents were fighting back hard.
   Petraeus  also  told  reporters  that a plan to begin withdrawing U.S.
   troops  next  year will not amount to a hand-off of security to Afghan
   forces.
   The  U.S.  and NATO commander said the July 2011 drawdown announced by
   President  Barack  Obama  will  instead be a gradual "thinning out" of
   coalition forces.
   Petraeus  said  the  last  of  the  additional 30,000 troops Mr. Obama
   ordered  to Afghanistan will arrive in the next few days, bringing the
   number of U.S. and NATO forces in the country to nearly 150,000.

   NATO  chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Tuesday voiced support for Afghan
   forces  to begin taking charge of the country's security in 2011.  He
   said  the  issue  would be taken up during the upcoming NATO summit in
   November.
   And  British  Deputy  Prime  Minister  Nick Clegg reaffirmed Britain's
   combat mission in Afghanistan will end by 2015.  He made the comments
   Tuesday  while visiting British troops in the southern Afghan province
   of Helmand.

   British  aid  group  Oxfam  said  Tuesday it is temporarily suspending
   operations  in  the  northern  province of Badakhshan after a roadside
   bombing killed two of its Afghan staff workers and a volunteer Monday.
   Elsewhere, gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed three Afghan Supreme
   Court  employees  traveling on a bus near Kabul Tuesday, in the Mosahi
   district of Kabul province.  At least 12 others were wounded.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

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