June deadliest month for troops in Afghanistan in 9 months

June deadliest month for troops in Afghanistan in 9 months
Stars and Stripes
By Heath Druzin
Published: June 30, 2013

KABUL -- In a dark reminder that the fighting in Afghanistan is still raging, despite the multinational military coalition’s pronouncements that the war is winding down, June has become the deadliest month for international troops in the country in nearly a year.

Already in June, at least 27 foreign troops have died, including 17 Americans, the most deaths in a month since September 2012, according to iCasualties.org, a website that tracks troop deaths. Twenty-five of the deaths were termed “hostile,” or battle-related.

A large part of the higher casualty rate in June is likely due to violence traditionally rising in the warmer months, as insurgents stream back into Afghanistan from their winter redoubts in Pakistan.

Afghan troops have been dying at a much higher rate as they have taken on more responsibility for day-to-day security while facing a still-entrenched insurgency. Almost as many Afghan troops were killed in 2012 alone than the number of U.S. troops killed in the entire nearly 12-year war.
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