A Bad Day In Afghanistan Today

U.S. Marines prepare to return fire during a security patrol in Nawa district in Helmand province, Afghanistan, Aug. 14, 2009. The Marines, assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, are deployed with Regimental Combat Team 3 to conduct counterinsurgency operations with Afghan forces in southern Afghanistan. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Artur Shvartsberg

6 US Troops Die In Afghanistan Ahead Of Election -- USA Today/AP

KABUL (AP) — The U.S. military said Wednesday six American troops were killed in Afghanistan, as militants killed six election workers amid growing fears on the eve of the presidential election that insurgents would mar the vote.

Two troops were killed in gunfire in the south on Wednesday, the U.S. military said, while a third was killed in an unspecified hostile attack. The U.S. also said a roadside bomb Tuesday in the south killed two troops, while another died of noncombat-related injuries. No other details were released.

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My Comment: Some news organizations are now saying that 8 U.S. marines were killed today. There is fighting east of Kabul. Kabul itself experienced rocket attacks today/yesterday. The border with Pakistan is flushed with Taliban activity. Hellmand Province and the region around Kandahar City are hot zones. My Canadian contacts in Kandahar are telling me that it is very dangerous to be in southern Afghanistan tonight.

For the first time in my covering and reading about the Afghan war .... I have been overwhelmed with war news information. The last time I had this experience was at the height of the Iraq Sunni-Shiite civil war in 2007.

I know that much of this conflict is because of the U.S. surge in Hellmand Province, and the Afghan Presidential election. But if this fighting continues with this intensity after the election, I will start to post Afghan War News Updates every 12 hours (9:00 and at 21:00). That in itself will be an ominous development and a clear indication that the war in Afghanistan is now escalating into a new phase.