American deaths in Afghanistan surpass highest annual record

A total of 323 US soldiers have been killed in the Afghan war this year, compared to 317 for all of 2009, according to figures based on the independent icasualties.org website.

Foreign forces suffered a grim spike in deaths last month as the Taliban insurgency intensified, with NATO confirming on Wednesday that a sixth US soldier was killed on one of the bloodiest days this year.

At 490, the overall death toll for foreign troops for the first eight months of the year is rapidly closing in the number registered in all of 2009, which at 521 was a record since the start of the war in late 2001.

In all 1,270 American troops have lost their lives, out of 2,058 foreign military fatalities, since the conflict began with the US-led invasion of Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday warned that the United States faced a "very tough fight" in Afghanistan, with more casualties and "heartbreak" to come.

"We obviously still have a very tough fight in Afghanistan," Mr Obama told troops in Texas as the United States marked the formal end of combat operations in Iraq.

"We have seen casualties go up because we are taking the fight to al-Qaeda and the Taliban," Obama said. "It is going to be a tough slog."

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