International troop deaths in Afghanistan topped 700 in 2010, an independent website said Tuesday, with US military chiefs reportedly pushing to expand special operations ground raids into Pakistan. The number of coalition forces killed fighting the Taliban this year - already the deadliest in the nine-year war - now stands at 702, around a third higher than last year, according to an AFP tally based on iCasualties.org.
US troops account for 70 percent of the deaths and the bloody milestone came just days after an American review said President Barack Obama's war strategy was "on track". Last year, Obama ordered an extra 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan in a bid to rout al Qaeda, reverse the Taliban insurgency and bring American forces home as soon as possible.
Limited withdrawals are expected to start next July, with responsibility for security being handed to Afghan forces in 2014, although Obama has acknowledged that combat troops might remain into 2015. When asked about the death toll, a spokesman for the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) highlighted increased pushes against the Taliban as part of Obama's surge strategy in the war.
"We have been saying there will be increased operations with the increase of troops and the increased focus on insurgent safe havens," the spokesman told AFP. "We expected and continue to expect the enemy to fight back as we push into those areas and clear them." The New York Times reported Tuesday that senior US military commanders in Afghanistan are pushing to boost ground raids by special operations forces across the border in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal areas. The calls come amid growing US frustration with Pakistani efforts to remove militants from strongholds there, the paper said. The majority of this year's ISAF dead - 493 - are US troops, followed by Britons with 101, according to iCasualties.