RECORD LEVEL OF VIOLENCE IN AFGHANISTAN

Thanks to my good friend Lori Price of http://www.legitgov.org/ for information on this "breaking story."

Record level of violence in Afghanistan

By Jason Straziuso, AP Writer
Published: 01 January 2008

US military deaths, suicide bombings and opium production hit record highs in 2007. Taliban militants killed more than 925 Afghan police. But US officials insist things are looking up.
The Afghan army is assuming a larger combat role, and militants are unlikely to mount a major offensive next spring, as was feared would happen a year ago. Training for the Afghan police force is increasing.
Still, six years after the 2001 US-led invasion, violence is pervasive in wide swathes of southern Afghanistan — in Helmand, Uruzgan and Kandahar provinces — regions where the government has little presence. Militants moved into Wardak, one province south of Kabul.
Civilian deaths caused by US and NATO forces in the first half of the year rattled the government, and more foreign fighters flowed into the country.
Taliban fighters avoided head-on battles with US, NATO and Afghan army forces in 2007, resorting instead to ambushes and suicide bombings. But militants did attack the weakest of Afghan forces to devastating effect.
More than 925 Afghan policemen died in Taliban ambushes in 2007, including 16 police killed Saturday in Helmand province during an assault on a checkpoint.
"The Taliban attack who they perceive to be the most vulnerable, and in this case it's the police," said Lt. Col. Dave Johnson, a spokesman for the US troops who train Afghan police and soldiers. "They don't travel in large formations like the army does. That puts them in an area of vulnerability."
Afghanistan in 2007 saw a record level of violence that killed more than 6,500 people, including 110 US troops — the highest ever in Afghanistan — and almost 4,500 militants, according to an Associated Press count. Britain lost 41 soldiers, while Canada lost 30. Other nations lost a total of 40.
The AP count is based on figures from Western and Afghan officials and is not definitive. Afghan officials are known to exaggerate Taliban deaths, for instance, and NATO's International Security Assistance Force does not release numbers of militants it killed, meaning AP's estimate of 4,478 militants deaths could be low.