17 US troops die in June in Afghanistan

Despite the U.S. claims that the war in Afghanistan is winding down, June was the deadliest month for the U.S.-led forces in nearly a year in the Asian country.

Twenty-seven troops, including 17 U.S. soldiers, were killed over the past month in Afghanistan, according to iCasualties.org, a website that tracks troop deaths. Twenty-five of the deaths were termed “hostile,” or battle-related.

Already this year, 95 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan, including 72 American soldiers, while much of the summer, which is traditionally the deadliest time of year for troops, is still ahead.

However, almost as many Afghan troops were killed in 2012 alone than the number of U.S. troops killed in the entire nearly 12-year war, according to the website.

The U.S. has recently taken faltering steps to negotiate with the militant group Taliban, which was ousted by the U.S.-led forces in 2011.

The Taliban has recently opened an office in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar introducing it as the representative of the Afghan government in exile, a move that angered Kabul.

The U.S. and the Afghan government have now come to an agreement to hold peace talks with the Taliban, only if the talks are authorized by the Afghan government.

In the past three weeks, the Taliban have launched several deadly attacks in Kabul, signaling that the militant group is still strong, just ahead of possible talks.

As requested by the Afghan government, foreign troops have scaled back patrols in recent months but there are still thousands of foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan. The U.S. has said it plans to keep some of its troops in the country even after the 2014 withdrawal deadline.

So far, there have been at least 3,345 international troops killed in connection with battles in Afghanistan, 2,245 of them Americans, according to iCasualties.org.