Brussels - Ridding Afghanistan of terrorism is in the West's interest, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Tuesday amid reports that coalition casualties had surged to record levels this year. "It's about our own security. If we allow terrorism to get rooted again in Afghanistan, it might spread quickly to other parts of the world. At the end of the day, this is a question of our own security. I hope that people in troop-contributing countries understand this," the secretary general said.
Rasmussen was addressing reporters after a meeting with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite as news reached NATO headquarters in Brussels that four US soldiers with its International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had been killed by a bomb while on patrol in Afghanistan's volatile south.
Tuesday's casualties raised the number of coalition soldiers killed since the start of the year to 295, making 2009 the deadliest year since operations began eight years ago.
The number of coalition deaths for the whole of 2008 was 294.
According to iCasualties.org, a website that tracks casualties in Afghanistan, 76 coalition forces died in July alone. The second deadliest month of the year was August, with 63 deaths to date.
ISAF currently has 64,500 soldiers from 42 contributing nations. And while that figure is set to rise in the coming months, opposition to the mission among ordinary people in many of ISAF's contributing nations is strong. About half of ISAF's forces are from the United States, which also operates a separate Operation Enduring Freedom mission in the country.
Speaking in Brussels, Rasmussen praised the Afghan security forces for conducting operations during last week's presidential vote, saying it was important that the elections "are considered credible in Afghanistan."
The NATO chief also urged all parties "to handle the electoral process and the outcome of the elections in a responsible manner."
A partial vote count published Tuesday showed incumbent Hamid Karzai narrowly ahead of his main rival with about 40.6 per cent of the ballots.
The Independent Election Commission said Karzai's former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, was a close second with 38.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission said it had received 790 complaints since election day. Of these, 54 were considered serious enough to potentially affect the outcome of the ballot.
