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Copenhagen (AFP) June 21, 2010 Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said Monday that NATO forces in Afghanistan should "hold on" in the face of escalating Taliban attacks, according to media reports. "Now is the time we have to hold on. Now is the time we have the chance to make a breakthrough," Danish news agency Ritzau quoted Rasmussen as saying after a meeting Monday in Afghanistan with the American commander of NATO forces, General Stanley McChrystal. According to Rasmussen, who began a surprise trip to Afghanistan Sunday, McChrystal warned that violence "would increase in the coming months". NATO and Afghan forces have been involved in an offensive in Kandahar in recent weeks, in the hope of re-establishing Kabul's authority in the south of the country. Nine NATO soldiers were killed in Afghanistan on Monday in militant attacks and a helicopter crash. Rasmussen, who cancelled a visit to Budwan for security reasons, said after a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai that it was "too early" to set a withdrawal date for Danish troops. Rasmussen said he hopes "Afghans would in 2011 gradually take control" of security operations currently undertaken by Danish troops, the news agency reported. Karzai hoped Afghan forces could provide security for the majority of the population in three years, and all of the country in five, Ritzau reported. The majority of Denmark's 750 troops are stationed in Helmand and are under British command. Danish troops have suffered the highest casualty rate of any country, with 31 soldiers killed in combat, plus one dead from suicide and another from a heart attack.
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British death toll in Afghanistan hits 300: officialsLondon (AFP) June 21, 2010 A British marine has died of injuries sustained in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said Monday, taking the country's total military death toll in the conflict to 300. The grim landmark comes during a year which has already seen the second-highest number of British fatalities since operations began in 2001 - 55. "It is desperately sad news. Another family with such grief and pain an ... read more |
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