US deaths reach 1,000 in Afghanistan war

May 29, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan

More U.S. military deaths in the past 10 months of the Afghan war than in the first five years of the conflict. More boots on the ground than in Iraq.

As the U.S. military death toll in the Afghan conflict reached the 1,000 mark, a fight that has become “Obama’s war” now faces its greatest challenge — a high-risk campaign to win over a hostile population in the Taliban’s southern heartland.

More casualties are expected when the campaign kicks into high gear this summer. The results may determine the outcome of a nearly nine-year conflict that has become the focus of America’s fight against Islamist militancy.

The 1,000th U.S. military death occurred in a roadside bombing Friday — just before the Memorial Day weekend when America honors the dead in all its wars.

A NATO statement did not identify or give the nationality of the victim. U.S. spokesman Col. Wayne Shanks said the trooper was American — the 32nd U.S. war death this month by an Associated Press count.

The AP bases its tally on Defense Department reports of deaths suffered as a direct result of the Afghan conflict, including personnel assigned to units in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Uzbekistan.

The grim milestone reflects the acceleration in fighting since President Barack Obama shifted the focus from Iraq to Afghanistan, where al-Qaida plotted the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States.

Yet Obama’s decision brought a heavy price.

In the last 10 months, at least 313 U.S. service members have been killed in the war — more than the 295 who died in the first five years of the conflict. More than 430 of the U.S. dead were killed since Obama took office in January 2009.

The number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan has now surpassed the total in Iraq — roughly 94,000 in Afghanistan compared with 92,000 in Iraq. In 2008, the U.S. force in Afghanistan numbered about 30,000.