KABUL, Afghanistan - More NATO troops, and more Americans, were killed in Afghanistan in August than in any other month this year.
Fifty-three Western troops died in Afghanistan as of Aug. 31, according to the icasualties.org website. Of those, 38 were Americans. U.S. troops make up about two-thirds of NATO forces.
U.S. military fatalities, in particular, were driven by the phenomenon of "insider" attacks in which members of the Afghan security forces turn their weapons on Western troops. Of the 15 such deaths in August, 12 were of Americans.
Another nine coalition deaths, seven of them Americans, occurred in helicopter crashes.
However, military deaths in August were down significantly from the same month in 2011, when 82 members of the NATO force were killed, 71 of them Americans. That was the most lethal month of that year, too.
Western military officials generally say there is a correlation between the number of coalition troops in Afghanistan and the numbers killed and injured. American troop strength peaked last year at just over 100,000; by the end of September it will have dropped to 68,000.
US Toll in Afghanistan
1,980
Deaths
17,382
Wounded
Source: Department of Defense.
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