KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. troops abandoned a remote outpost in eastern Afghanistan where militants killed nine of their comrades this week, officials said yesterday, in another sign of the struggle facing foreign and Afghan security forces strung out along the mountainous border.
Elsewhere in the frontier region, NATO launched artillery and helicopter strikes in Pakistan after coming under insurgent rocket fire, officials said. In other violence reported yesterday, the U.S.-led coalition said eight civilians were killed when it called in airstrikes after one of its patrols was attacked in the country's west.
The violence is another indication of the growing strength of the Taliban-led insurgency, especially in Afghanistan's east, where the outpost near the village of Wanat was breached by militants Sunday. Nine Americans were killed in the deadliest incident for U.S. forces in three years.
On Tuesday, the insurgents drove out the handful of police left behind to defend government offices in the village, but 50 more officers were deployed yesterday and soon regained control, police said.
Omar Sami, spokesman for the Nuristan provincial governor, said U.S. and Afghan soldiers left the base Tuesday.
NATO confirmed that the post, which lies amid mountains close to the Pakistan border, had been vacated but added that international and Afghan troops will “retain a strong presence in that area with patrolling and other means.”
In Washington, Pentagon leaders said yesterday that they are looking for ways to send additional troops to Afghanistan this year, signaling an acceleration in what had been plans to shift forces there no earlier than next year.
“I think that we are clearly working very hard to see if there are opportunities to send additional forces sooner rather than later,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.
A defense official who requested anonymity because the discussions are private said some smaller units such as aviation and engineering could be sent there within weeks, not months, though no final decisions have been made.
