Nine American soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan today, making 2010 the deadliest year for international troops since the war began. The crash, in the volatile southern Kabul province, brought the grim total of foreign troop casualties this year to 529. Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for shooting down the Lynx transport helicopter, but NATO said there were no reports of any enemy fire in the area. It happened in rugged terrain where helicopters are heavily used to transport troops around mountainous areas with few roads.There were two survivors - an Afghan National Army soldier and a U.S. civilian - who were transported to a military medical centre, Nato said. Most helicopter crashes in the country have been accidents caused by maintenance problems or factors such as dust. The deaths come a day after Britain's military handed over responsiblity to the U.S. for the dangerous district of Sangin, also in the south of the country. After four years of relentless fighting 106 Britons were killed there - 36 this year alone. To put it into perspective, since the conflict began in 2001 Britain has lost 337 troops in Afghanistan. Nato said 40 Commando Royal Marines were being reassigned throughout central Helmand province, which also remains a volatile battleground. Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, the No.2 U.S. general in Afghanistan and the operational chief for the allied forces, said in July the British move was part of his effort to consolidate and better organise forces in Helmand. Lt Gen Rodriguez rejected the notion the U.S. was bailing out British forces, noting the high losses suffered in Sangin. The crash came soon after one of the deadliest days of the year on Saturday, when the Taliban launched scores of attacks across the country in a bid to disrupt a parliamentary election that has been tarnished by a growing number of fraud complaints. The country's election watchdog has received almost 3,000 formal complaints about the weekend poll and is mulling extending a deadline for submitting grievances because voters and candidates are believed to have thousands more to lodge. The poll, a test of credibility for the Afghan government, was being closely watched in Washington ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's planned war strategy review in December, which will likely examine the pace and scale of U.S. troop withdrawals. Obama's Democrats also face difficult mid-term Congressional elections in November amid sagging public support for the war. Record troop casualties and rampant electoral fraud in Afghanistan will likely only make their task harder. Today's helicopter deaths raise to 32 the number of international troops killed so far this month in the country. Two U.S. service crew were killed in the most recent helicopter crash in southern Helmand in July, which the Taliban claimed to have caused. In April, three service members were killed when a U.S. Air Force Osprey went down seven miles from Qalat, capital of Zabul, south-west of Kabul. It was the first crash of the costly tilt-rotor aircraft in a combat zone, the U.S. military said. The deaths took the number killed in 2010 to at least 529, up from 521 in 2009. In July 2009, two Canadian troops and a Briton were killed in a helicopter crash, also in Zabul. Helicopters are used extensively by both Nato and the Afghan government forces to transport and supply troops spread out across a mountainous country with few roads. Losses have been relatively light, despite insurgent fire and difficult conditions, and most crashes have been accidents caused by maintenance problems or factors such as dust. Violence in recent months has soared in recent months as the Taliban spread the insurgency out of their heartland in the south and east into once relatively calm areas in the North and West. At the same time, foreign troops have been increasing the reach and scale of operations to seek out the Taliban, especially in Helmand and Kandahar provinces in the south, and U.S. commanders have warned of more tough times ahead. There are now almost 150,000 foreign troops fighting a growing Taliban-led insurgency, supporting about 300,000 Afghan security forces. President Obama ordered in an extra 30,000 troops late last year, the last units of which arrived this month. Saturday's flawed election, in which widespread fraud and violence were reported, has only underscored the challenges facing U.S. and other Nato nations as they decide how long they will keep troops in Afghanistan. The complaints have ranged from vote-stuffing and intimidation to repeat voting and a shortage of ballot papers in some locations. Both President Hamid Karzai and the top U.N. diplomat in Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, have said it is too early to describe the poll as a success. Afghanistan's endemic corruption has long been a point of friction between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Western allies. Transparency Internation ranks Afghanistan as one of the world's two most corrupt countries, ahead only of Somalia. Washington believes graft weakens the central government and its ability to build up institutions like the Afghan security forces, which in turn determines when troops will leave. Obama has pledged to start drawing down U.S. forces from July 2011. Dutch troops ended their mission in August and several European and other nations are under growing public pressure to bring their troops home.
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