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October Becomes Deadliest Month for US in Afghan War

By VOA News
27 October 2009

The deaths of eight U.S. forces in Afghanistan Tuesday has made October the deadliest month for the United States since it launched the war eight years ago.

NATO says complex bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan killed the U.S. service members and one Afghan civilian working with the force.

The deaths pushed the October death toll to at least 53, topping the previous high of 51 deaths in August.

In Luxembourg Tuesday, European Union foreign ministers agreed to increase civilian aid to Afghanistan despite concerns the situation there is deteriorating.

The EU is pouring about $1.5 billion in civilian aid into Afghanistan annually. The ministers did not say how much that would increase.

In their meeting, the ministers criticized the pace of political reform in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is preparing for a run-off presidential election on November 7 after the initial August vote was marred by widespread fraud.

A spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday dismissed a demand by Mr. Karzai's challenger to fire the election commission chairman. The spokesman said the request by former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah has no legal basis.

The International Crisis Group said Tuesday the commission chief (Azizullah Ludin) and all other officials implicated in the election fraud should be removed before the next vote.

The group said a flawed run-off election will give the Taliban a significant strategic victory and erode public confidence in the electoral process and democratic institutions.

Also Tuesday, The Washington Post newspaper reported that an American diplomat serving in Afghanistan has become the first U.S. official known to resign in protest of the war. It says Matthew Hoh left his foreign service post in September because he said he believes the war is fueling the insurgency.

Separately, NATO said Tuesday it has recovered the remains of three civilian crew members from the wreckage of an aircraft in the northeastern province of Nuristan. It says hostile action is not believed to have caused the October 13 crash.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.