Bomb attack kills 2 NATO service members in southern Afghanistan

2 NATO service members killed in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two more NATO service members were killed in weekend attacks in Afghanistan, the military coalition said Sunday as Australia’s new prime minister vowed to Afghanistan’s president that her country would continue to support the war.

This has been the deadliest year for international troops in the nine-year conflict. The toll has shaken the commitment of many NATO countries, where there are rising calls to start drawing down troops quickly. Monthly deaths peaked in June, when 103 NATO forces were killed.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard had a private dinner with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday and pledged continued backing, her office said in a statement Sunday. It was her first overseas trip as Australia’s leader.

“Gillard underscored Australia’s intention to continue working with the Afghan government to help meet its objectives to improve security, governance and development across the country and reiterated Australia’s expectations of the Afghan government in the process,” her office said.

Australia has 1,550 troops in Afghanistan, mostly in southern Uruzgan province. Twenty-one Australian soldiers have died since the war began and Australia’s parliament is expected to hold a debate soon on the country’s role in the war.

Gillard visited Australian troops before flying to Kabul to meet with Karzai and Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of NATO’s troops in Afghanistan.

Gillard and Petraeus discussed plans for transferring the responsibility for security in Afghanistan to Afghan forces.

On Saturday, Karzai gave a rousing speech to Afghan troops, calling on them to be ready to take charge of protecting and defending the nation when international troops eventually leave.

“It is possible that one day this international community, which is with us today, will not see a benefit in Afghanistan any more and leave us — like they left us in the past,” Karzai said Saturday. “What then is the task of the Afghan people, the Afghan government and the Afghan armed forces? Maintaining and developing the national interests of our country.”

Asked whether the president’s comments indicated a worry that NATO forces will desert Afghanistan, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Sunday that the statement simply reflected the facts — that Western powers do not intend to fight here indefinitely.

“It is not a concern; it is a reality. All countries are here because of their national interest. Once they don’t see their national interest, they will leave,” Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi told reporters in the capital.

He said a push to increase the size of the Afghan army is on track, noting that they reached a benchmark of 134,000 soldiers about three months ahead of an October deadline, and now have 140,000 active soldiers with another 20,000 being trained. The ultimate goal is 240,000 troops.

But the Afghan army and police are still widely seen as hobbled by a lack of education, drug abuse and corruption, raising doubts about whether they will really be able to take the lead in securing the country by 2014 as promised. While military operations are regularly described as “Afghan-led,” the bulk of resources and strategic planning usually come from NATO forces.

Both the Afghan government and its international backers therefore have been pushing for more real Afghan control of the security situation.

One recent move by Karzai’s administration — a plan to dissolve private security firms that protect government officials, businesspeople and military convoys — is already under way, officials said Sunday.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Zemeri Bashary, said the government has disbanded a few security companies that were working without proper registration.

NATO did not provide the nationalities of the latest troop deaths, in keeping with a policy to wait for national authorities to release information on their casualties.

One of the service members died Sunday in a battle with insurgents in the north, while another was killed by a bomb attack Saturday in the south, the alliance said. No other details were provided.

The deaths bring to seven the number of NATO service members killed in the first three days of October. At least 57 NATO service members were killed in September, including 42 Americans, according to an Associated Press tally.

NATO also said it captured a key Taliban leader in southern Kandahar province and killed two senior Taliban figures in northern Badghis province on Saturday.

But the NATO successes continue to be accompanied by costly mistakes. Also Saturday, NATO forces inadvertently killed a child and wounded an adult civilian when they fired on a suspected insurgent who they thought was about to fire a weapon, the force said. The incident is under investigation.

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Associated Press Writer Kristen Gelineau in Sydney contributed to this report.