One major piece of unfinished business from George Bush is the war in Afghanistan. He had to invade Iraq instead of finishing the job. Now, he's leaving the deteriorating situation to his successor:
Foreign troops suffered their highest death toll in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2008, and with thousands more troops scheduled to be deployed, this year could be even worse.This is going to get worse before it gets better. And, it's not going to well for Afghan security forces either:
Nearly 270 foreign soldiers, 127 of them Americans, were killed in combat in 2008, versus 169 foreign combat deaths in 2007, according to figures compiled by Reuters.
Hundreds more foreign soldiers were wounded in Taliban attacks last year, mostly involving roadside bomb blasts, which according to the U.S. ambassador, doubled to some 2,000 in 2008 from the previous year.
Taliban militants attacked police officers assigned to protect a senior district official in the southern province of Helmand on Wednesday, killing 20 of them, in one of the bloodiest attacks on the security forces in months, local officials reported on Thursday.
