Afghanistan War News Updates -- July 3, 2011

The sun sets behind U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jamie R. Johnson, a platoon sergeant assigned to Bayonet Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, Task Force No Slack, as he patrols Afghanistan's Kunar province, March 17, 2011. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Mark Burrell

U.S. Troop Deaths In Afghanistan Not Abating -- The Eagle/AP

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Despite U.S. reports of progress on the battlefield, American troops were killed in the first half of this year at the same pace as in 2010 -- an indication that the war's toll on U.S. forces has not eased as the Obama administration moves to shift the burden to the Afghans.

While the overall international death toll dropped by 14 percent in the first half of the year, the number of Americans who died remained virtually unchanged, 197 this year compared with 195 in the first six months of last year, according to a tally by The Associated Press.

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More News On Afghanistan

ISAF Joint Command morning operational update -- Dvids
Bad day for Taliban in Afghanistan -- UPI
Buried bombs take increasingly deadly toll on Afghan civilians -- L.A. Times
Bomb Blasts Kill Women, Children and Farmers in Afghanistan -- Voice of America
Grenade wounds 17 Afghan schoolchildren -- AFP
Kidnappers release Afghan district governor -- AFP
Afghans infuriated by shelling from Pakistan -- Washington Post
Afghans Demonstrate Against Pakistan Border Attacks -- Voice of America
Iran smuggling weapons to U.S. ENEMIES in Iraq and Afghanistan to destabilize the region -- Daily Mail
Filipinos fight for US citizenship in Afghanistan -- AFP

US shifts supply routes to Central Asia: report -- AFP
U.S. turns to other routes to supply Afghan war as relations with Pakistan fray -- Washington Post
US seeking alternative routes to Afghanistan -- Sydney Morning Herald
US fears cuts to Afghan supply lines -- Brisbane Times
China rebuffed U.S. request to open route for Afghanistan war supplies, cables show -- Washington Post

Britain to Pull Some Troops From Afghanistan -- Voice of America
British PM David Cameron 'to pull out 500 Afghan troops' -- Herald Sun
Prime Minister to order further troop reductions in Helmand -- The Telegraph
Graham, McCain Fret About Troop Withdrawals -- Wall Street Journal
McCain, Lieberman, Graham criticize Afghan drawdown plan -- Washington Post
Obama’s Afghanistan Plan Creates ‘Risk,’ Two U.S. Senators Say -- Bloomberg
Graham: Troop drawdown threatens momentum -- Politico
Afghanistan detains eight people over Kabulbank scandal --Reuters
Afghan Security Forces Are U.S. Troops' Tickets Home -- Oliver North
The Dangerous Afghan Drawdown -- Arvind Gupta & Smruti S. Pattanaik, The Diplomat
Don't expect top room service, or information, in a war zone -- Patrick Cockburn, The Independent
In Afghanistan, A Week Of Crises Raises Troubling Questions -- Christian Caryl, Eurasianet.org