9 U.S. soldiers killed in Taliban assault on base

KABUL, Afghanistan — Nine U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday when Taliban insurgents carried out a bold assault on a remote base near the border with Pakistan, senior U.S. and NATO officials said.

The attack, the worst against U.S. forces in Afghanistan in three years, illustrated the growing threat of Taliban extremists and their associates, who in recent months have made Afghanistan a far deadlier war zone for U.S.-led forces than Iraq.

U.S. officials say the attacks are becoming more complex, intense and better coordinated than a year ago. Monthly death tolls of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan surpassed U.S. military deaths in Iraq in May and June. And last Monday, a suicide bomber attacked the Indian Embassy in Kabul and killed 58 people in the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital since 2001.

U.S. officials are considering drawing down additional forces from Iraq in coming months, in part because of the need for additional U.S. troops in Afghanistan. U.S. officials have said they need at least three more brigades in Afghanistan — or more than 10,000 troops.

Reflecting the seriousness of the incident at the U.S. base in Kunar province, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was briefed early Sunday on the assault, according to Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.

Although the attackers were driven back, the toll they exacted was undeniably heavy. Insurgents attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, and used houses, shops and a mosque in the nearby village of Wanat for cover, according to NATO.

In addition to the nine soldiers killed, 15 Americans and four Afghan soldiers were wounded.

A senior Defense Department official said the outpost was manned by 45 U.S. troops and 25 Afghan National Army soldiers. That would mean that one in five of the U.S. defenders was killed and one-third of them wounded.

NATO divides Afghanistan into regional commands, and the eastern part of the country, including Kunar province, is under U.S. military control.

The base that came under attack Sunday lies in one of the most inhospitable mountainous regions where U.S. forces have frequently faced fierce battles with insurgents, according to Gen. David McKiernan, who took over the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in June.

Attacks in eastern Afghanistan have increased sharply in recent months as insurgents have streamed across the country's mountainous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan as part of an offensive declared this year by top Taliban leaders in Pakistan.

Border skirmishes with insurgents have been especially heavy in the eastern provinces, where at least 11 NATO soldiers have been killed and 25 wounded in insurgent-led attacks in the past two months. Last week, a NATO soldier was killed and four were injured when their convoy rolled over a roadside bomb in Kunar.

Also Sunday, at least 24 people were killed and 30 injured in Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan when a suicide bomber set off explosives near a police convoy, according to The Associated Press. Five police officers were among those killed, but most of the dead were shopkeepers and boys selling items at an intersection, the provincial police chief said.

According to the Web site iCasualties.org, which tracks casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq, 553 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Operation Enduring Freedom, which includes Afghanistan and other areas. About 32,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Afghanistan, along with about 30,000 NATO soldiers from other countries.

In June, 28 Americans were killed in fighting in Afghanistan, nearly equaling the 29 announced U.S. troop deaths last month in Iraq.

McKiernan, a four-star general who commanded allied land forces during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, said there were three main reasons for the increase in violence:

• A change in tactics by the insurgents to small attacks on more vulnerable targets, such as the civilian population, district centers and convoys

• The increasing progress of Afghan and NATO forces in pushing into regions previously controlled by the Taliban, which has led to more fighting

• The "deteriorating situation with tribal sanctuaries across the border" in Pakistan

Compiled from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press.