Grim US milestone in Afghan conflict

[Forkboy]

KABUL, Afghanistan — The American military death toll in Afghanistan reached 1,000 at a time when President Obama’s strategy to turn back the Taliban is facing its greatest test — an ambitious campaign to win over a disgruntled population in the insurgents’ southern heartland.

More casualties are expected when the campaign kicks into high gear this summer. The results may determine the outcome of a nearly nine-year conflict that became “Obama’s war’’ after he decided to shift the fight against Islamist militancy from Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan, where Afghan insurgents find sanctuary. The grim milestone was reached in a roadside bombing just before the Memorial Day weekend, when America honors the dead in all its wars.

The NATO statement did not identify the victim or give the nationality of the service member killed yesterday in southern Afghanistan. US spokesman Colonel Wayne Shanks said the trooper was American — the 32d US war death this month by an Associated Press count.

Already the new focus on the once-forgotten Afghan war has come at a heavy price. More than 430 of the US dead were killed after Obama took office in January 2009. The number of US troops in Afghanistan has now surpassed the total in Iraq — about 94,000 in Afghanistan compared with 92,000 in Iraq, where the war is winding down.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2010/05/29/grim_us_milestone_in_afghan_conflict/

[JanusAscending]

1. Dear Lord I wish he'd bring them home!

My grand daughter and her fiance narrowly missed the last bombing at the airport last week. They are both due home in November for their wedding in Cape Cod. My daughters are planning the whole thing for them. I worry that we may not have a bride and groom!!:cry: :scared: