July Deadliest Month Yet for US Troops in Afghanistan

Officials Unanimous in Predicting Rising Tolls Going Forward

by Jason Ditz, July 30, 2010

The deaths of six more American troops in Afghanistan today has brought the overall US toll for the month of July to 66, making it the deadliest month yet for US troops in the nine year war. The previous record was last month, in which 60 US troops were killed.

But July still comes in a close second for deadliest month for the overall NATO operation, with a total of 86 troops killed. In June NATO saw a grim milestone of 103 troops slain across Afghanistan.

As the war continues to flounder in the always violent Afghan summer, officials in the Obama Administration all seem to agree on one thing: that we still haven’t seen the worst of this war, and death tolls will continue to rise throughout the summer.

The deaths which put the month over the top for violence against US troops come just three days after the House of Representatives approved, in a 308-114 vote, the “emergency” funds to keep the war going through the rest of the year. Officials have abandoned the July 2011 drawdown date and are now talking about a speculative date some time in 2014.

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