Deadliest month for U.S. troops

 KABUL, Afghanistan – August has become the deadliest month yet for U.S. forces in the nearly 10-year-old war in Afghanistan.

 The 66 U.S. service members killed this month eclipses the previous record of 65 killed in July 2010, according to an Associated Press tally. Nearly half the August deaths occurred when insurgents shot down a Chinook helicopter Aug. 6, killing 30 American troops.

 Violence is being reported across Afghanistan despite the U.S.-led coalition’s drive to rout insurgents from their strongholds in the south. U.S. military officials predicted high casualties this summer as the Taliban try to come back after recent offensives.

 The military has begun to implement President Barack Obama’s order to withdraw the 33,000 extra troops he dispatched to the war. He ordered 10,000 out this year and another 23,000 withdrawn by summer 2012, leaving about 68,000 U.S. troops on the ground.

Associated Press