KABUL — Nine NATO troops were killed Monday in a helicopter crash and a spate of attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan, putting June on pace to become the deadliest month for the U.S.-led international force in the nearly nine-year war.
At least 62 NATO service members, including 41 Americans, have been killed this month in Afghanistan — an average of nearly three per day.
Also on Monday, Afghan officials said a deputy district governor was slain in Wardak province, the latest blow for the U.S. effort to boost local governance in Taliban strongholds.
The surge in NATO casualties comes as the U.S. military is deploying an additional 30,000 troops to Taliban strongholds in an effort to secure them enough for the Afghan government to assume control.
Also on Monday, the British government announced that 300 of its troops have been killed in Afghanistan, following the death Monday of a British marine injured Sunday in a roadside bombing in Helmand province.
Meanwhile, representatives of the United Nations Security Council member nations arrived Monday in Kabul for an unannounced fact-finding mission, the organization said. Their visit was planned to prepare members for a debate on Afghanistan scheduled for later this month.
Criminal investigators also are examining allegations that Afghan security firms have been extorting as much as $4 million a week from contractors paid with U.S. tax dollars and then funneling the spoils to warlords and the Taliban.
If the allegations are true, the U.S. would be unintentionally financing the enemy and undermining international efforts to stabilize the country.
The payments reportedly end up in insurgent hands through a $2.1 billion Pentagon contract to transport food, water, fuel and ammunition to U.S. troops stationed across Afghanistan. To ensure safe passage through dangerous areas, the trucking companies make payments to local security firms with ties to the Taliban or warlords who control the roads. If the payments aren’t made, the convoys will be attacked, according to a U.S. military document detailing the allegations being examined by investigators.
