Afghanistan: 4 US troops killed in attacks

KABUL -- Four U.S. service members were killed Wednesday in separate attacks in Afghanistan, NATO said, underscoring the dangers facing Americans as President Barack Obama intensifies efforts to stabilize the country in its ninth year of war.

The deaths raised to 14 the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year, according to an Associated Press count. They also came on the same day the U.N. released a report showing the number of Afghan civilian deaths has been on the rise.

One American service member was killed in fighting with insurgents in eastern Afghanistan while the other died of wounds suffered in a roadside bombing in the south.

NATO said the two other American troops died in a bomb blast Wednesday, but disclosed no other information.

A French soldier was also killed and two others wounded in a roadside bomb attack Wednesday northeast of the Afghan capital of Kabul. President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said the attack hit an armored vehicle the soldiers were riding in a convoy in the Mahmud-e-Raqi region between the NATO bases of Nijrab and Bagram.

The bombing came two days after insurgents ambushed a joint patrol of French and Afghan soldiers in the Alasay valley east of Kabul, killing a French captain and a sergeant.

France has lost 39 troops in Afghanistan since 2001, including 11 last year.

Obama has ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan but said they would start to leave in 2011 depending on the readiness of Afghan forces, which also have been targeted by violence.

Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, however, warned on Wednesday that Afghanistan is facing a major shortage of instructors needed to train Afghan forces and he called on other countries to step up their contributions.

Levin, who spoke to reporters during a visit to Afghanistan, said the NATO coalition had only 37 percent of the trainers it needed to teach initial eight-week courses for Afghan recruits.

"I was really surprised to see what a major shortfall we have in that area," Levin said. "We need a lot more of our coalition partners to step forward and to provide a lot more of those trainers."

He wouldn't single out any country but called it a "real disappointment."

Levin said that it's one thing for countries to refuse to send their troops into combat in Afghanistan, but that the coalition should be able to count on its allies to supply trainers.

"I think it's inexcusable. ... I will be putting greater pressure on our friends and allies to carry out their commitments," said the Democrat from Michigan.

He said 4,235 trainers were needed to meet a target goal to train 134,000 soldiers and 96,800 policemen by October. Currently, there are only 1,574 trainers, he said.

The tentative goal for the Afghan security forces is 159,000 soldiers and 123,000 policemen by July 2011, but those targets have not yet been approved.

"It's so unacceptable to me," Levin said.

Sen. Al Franken, who was traveling with Levin, said the shortage of trainers recently caused the coalition to stop signing up recruits for training.

"They had to stop taking men in because they couldn't train them," said Franken, a Democratic senator from Minnesota. "I would urge our coalition allies to help with that training, and I would urge our military and President Obama to put the emphasis on that."

In Khost city, members of the Afghan National Army found two explosives, said Amir Hassan, a spokesman for the police chief in Khost province near the Pakistan border. He said the soldiers detonated one and removed the other, which subsequently exploded. The four soldiers and a civilian died in the morning blast just outside a police barracks, he said.

In Helmand province on Wednesday, a delegation investigated the deaths of six people at a protest in Garmsir district that turned violent when demonstrators clashed with troops.

Daoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the governor in Helmand, said insurgents organized the Tuesday protest that also left seven wounded. Ahmadi said all the dead were civilians, but other officials have declined to confirm that. NATO has only confirmed one death -- an insurgent -- but an alliance official said Wednesday it's possible more people were killed but there are conflicting reports.

He said members of the provincial delegation, who talked with shopkeepers and local citizens, could not confirm demonstrators' claims that foreign troops disrespected Islam's holy book, the Quran, in a recent operation. NATO has denied the allegation.

Ahmadi said Taliban militants, who were among the estimated 2,000 protesters, opened fire and the civilians were killed in the crossfire.

The NATO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said armed insurgents were in the crowd. One started shooting, and NATO forces returned fire and killed the insurgent, he said.