http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jiJav28z9iYh4O02eUmLiRiy0tmw
Associated Press January 25, 2010 Miliband: NATO must stay in Afghanistan despite rising casualties By Slobodan Lekic BRUSSELS, Belgium — NATO must persevere in Afghanistan despite the sharp rise in allied casualties because the next two years will be decisive for the war effort, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Monday. Briefing officials before an international conference in London on Thursday aimed at shoring up support for the Afghan government, Miliband said that the Afghan-Pakistan border is essential.... Miliband said he recognized growing concerns about the numbers of NATO soldiers killed in the war "but the point is that international terrorism is not going to go away if we avert our eyes from it." At least 504 allied soldiers - including 108 British troops - died in Afghanistan last year, a jump of about two-thirds over the year before. This trend has continued in January. Most of the dead have been U.S. service members, with 305 killed in 2009. Escalating military deaths and the rising costs of the conflict at a time of economic crisis have drained support for the war in Europe as the fighting drags into its ninth year. "Everybody grieves in a very, very serious way at the level of casualties in Afghanistan," he said. "2009 was a very bloody year for the international community and in Britain we felt that very strongly." Associated Press correspondent Robert H. Reid in Kabul contributed to this report. =========================== Stop NATO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato Blog site: http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/ To subscribe, send an e-mail to: rwroz...@yahoo.com or stopnato-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Daily digest option available. ==============================
