KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — The month began with a fatal roadside bombing and ended with word that an American had died of wounds suffered in a firefight. After nearly eight years of warfare in Afghanistan, July proved by far the deadliest month yet for U.S. troops and their foreign allies.
Bombs and rocket attacks, ambushes and aviation accidents killed many of the 72 foreign troops, including 43 Americans, according to data at the website icasualties.org. Previously, the highest monthly U.S. toll was 28 in June 2008, according to the independent website.
July was also the worst month for Britain, the most important U.S. ally in Afghanistan, since the 1980s Falklands war. Twenty-two British soldiers died, spurring soul-searching in a country where a recent poll suggested that a majority of the public considers the Afghan war unwinnable.
Analysts and military officials cited a web of factors in the record death toll, including a major American military offensive in the south and a parallel push by British troops.
Also driving the increased casualty count is the growing U.S. troop presence, Western forays into previously Taliban-dominated areas and a determined, resilient insurgency.
"It's a strong example of the asymmetric nature of Taliban and insurgent tactics and procedures," said Seth Jones, an Afghanistan expert with Rand Corp.
"There's been a decision to scatter and target NATO forces using tried-and-true mujahedin tactics."
About two-thirds of the coalition deaths were caused by roadside bombs, the insurgents' weapon of choice in a fight against a much more powerful enemy.
Although most bombs are relatively unsophisticated devices made with commonplace ingredients such as fertilizer, commanders say the Taliban and other militants draw a battlefield advantage from the country's vast expanse. Convoys travel among far-flung bases by road, and the insurgents keep careful watch on their comings and goings.
American and British offensives in the southern province of Helmand, a center of Afghanistan's drug trade and a longtime Taliban stronghold, account for most of the combat casualties. About 4,000 U.S. Marines are taking part in the operation, which began July 2.
A few pockets of insurgents tried to hold their ground in the face of the American offensive, the largest conducted by the Marines since the battle of Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. But most instead melted away.
