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Afghan Soldier Kills 3 British Troops

   VOA News 13 July 2010

   An  Afghan  soldier  has  killed  three  British troops during a joint
   patrol in southern Afghanistan.
   Afghan  Defense  Ministry spokesman Mohammad Zaher Azimi confirmed the
   attack Tuesday in Helmand province.
   Officials  say  at  least two other British soldiers were wounded, and
   the Afghan soldier escaped after the attack.
   In  a  statement Tuesday, NATO and U.S. forces commander General David
   Petraeus   called  for  unity  in  the  fight  to  bring  security  to
   Afghanistan.  Petraeus  said  Afghan  and  NATO troops must ensure the
   trust between the forces remains solid to defeat common enemies.
   In  Kabul,  a  spokesman  for  Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed
   regret for the attack.
   Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says setting a
   timetable  to  withdraw  troops  from  Afghanistan could encourage the
   Taliban to step up attacks on coalition forces.
   In  an  interview  published  in  Britain's  Daily Telegraph newspaper
   Tuesday,  the  NATO  chief  said  he could not give an exact date when
   international  forces  would  leave  the war-torn nation and called on
   coalition partners to keep their soldiers there as long as necessary.
   Rasmussen  also  warned that an early departure from Afghanistan could
   allow   the   Taliban  to  return  to  power  and  risk  destabilizing
   neighboring Pakistan.
   On Monday, an Afghan human rights group said more than 1,000 civilians
   have  been  killed so far this year in Afghanistan, making it the most
   violent year in the nation's nine-year war.
   In  a  report,  The  Afghanistan  Rights  Monitor  says that about six
   Afghans   were   killed   and   eight   others  wounded  each  day  in
   conflict-related incidents during the first six months of 2010.
   The  report  says  the  recent  surge  of  U.S.-led NATO forces is not
   discouraging  the  Taliban  insurgency,  but  is instead "emboldening"
   militants who see the move as "the last push before exit."

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

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