3 NATO troops killed in Afghanistan
Kabul, Dec 27 (EFE).- Three members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan died here Friday in a car-bomb attack blamed on the Taliban, ISAF said in a statement.
The note did not mention the nationalities of the troops or provide any details about the attack in Kabul.
A total of 158 NATO personnel have died in Afghanistan this year, according to the independent Web site icasualties, and 2013 is on track to end with the smallest number of ISAF fatalities since 2005, when the death toll was 131.
ISAF deaths totaled 95 during the first six months of this year, down 57 percent from the same period in 2012, with analysts attributing the lower casualties to the handover of security operations to Afghan forces.
International forces began gradually withdrawing from the country and transferring security responsibilities to Afghan police and army troops in 2011.
The pullout is expected to be completed in 2014, but many NATO members, including the United States, support leaving military units in the South Asian nation beyond next year.
The note did not mention the nationalities of the troops or provide any details about the attack in Kabul.
A total of 158 NATO personnel have died in Afghanistan this year, according to the independent Web site icasualties, and 2013 is on track to end with the smallest number of ISAF fatalities since 2005, when the death toll was 131.
ISAF deaths totaled 95 during the first six months of this year, down 57 percent from the same period in 2012, with analysts attributing the lower casualties to the handover of security operations to Afghan forces.
International forces began gradually withdrawing from the country and transferring security responsibilities to Afghan police and army troops in 2011.
The pullout is expected to be completed in 2014, but many NATO members, including the United States, support leaving military units in the South Asian nation beyond next year.
US tries to block Afghanistan from releasing 'dangerous' prisoners
The United States wants Afghanistan to halt the release of 88 prisoners from an Afghan jail because they pose a serious threat to security, U.S. officials said on Wednesday, adding to strains between the two sides.
The United States only recently transferred the prison at Bagram to Afghan control after it had become a serious source of tension with the government in Afghanistan which is fighting a Taliban-led insurgency.
Relations with Afghanistan have grown particularly strained over President Hamid Karzai's refusal to sign a bilateral security deal that would keep around 8,000 U.S. troops in the country after 2014, when most foreign forces are due to leave.
The United States only recently transferred the prison at Bagram to Afghan control after it had become a serious source of tension with the government in Afghanistan which is fighting a Taliban-led insurgency.
Relations with Afghanistan have grown particularly strained over President Hamid Karzai's refusal to sign a bilateral security deal that would keep around 8,000 U.S. troops in the country after 2014, when most foreign forces are due to leave.