Kabul: International troop deaths in Afghanistan have passed 700 this year, according to figures released Tuesday by the independent iCasualties.org website.
The total figure now stands at 701, the highest annual number yet in the nine-year battle against the Taliban insurgency and around a third higher than last year.
The bulk of the dead -- 493 -- are US troops, followed by Britons at 101, the website said.
The bloody milestone comes days after US President Barack Obama announced details of a review into his strategy in Afghanistan, a year after ordering an extra 30,000 American
troops for the war.
Obama said the review showed that the strategy was "on
track" and indicated that plans to start a limited withdrawal
of some US forces from July 2011 were still on course.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is fighting an increasingly deadly and expanding Taliban insurgency.
The Taliban were ousted from power by a US-led
invasion in 2001 after the September 11, 2001 attacks which
Washington linked to Al-Qaeda militants being harboured by the
Taliban.
The total international troop death toll last year
stood at 521 while for 2008, the number was 295, according to
iCasualties.
Bureau Report
