• Listen to this segment

• Listen to the entire program

NATO reported today that a U.S. soldier fighting with its International Security Assistance Force was killed in Southern Afghanistan. This comes a day after the car of an Afghan politician was ambushed on Monday, killing a district Governor and his driver. Ahmad Seroor was the chief administrator of the Nahrin district in the Northern province of Baghlan. As violence escalates in the country civilians continue paying the price of war. Last week a botched NATO air strike killed 10 Afghan civilians campaigning in the Northern region of the country in the run-up to the September 18th parliamentary elections. President Karzai condemned the civilian deaths at the hands of a military force that is partly responsible for ensuring the safety of Afghans participating in election activities and voting. After the killings NATO said it had targeted and successfully killed or wounded 12 insurgents. There was no official U.S. response to the deaths of the campaigners, with Defense Secretary Robert Gates saying on Thursday he had not yet heard about them. He reiterated NATO’s assertion that the attack targeted insurgents and was successful in killing a high-ranking official of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Meanwhile, violence in the country has caused serious problems for elections officials, and threatens to cause the disenfranchisement of large sections of Afghanistan voters. Reuters reports that more than 900 polling stations will remain closed on election day, many in areas inhabited by ethnic Pashtuns.

GUEST: Gareth Porter, investigative journalist and historian specializing in US national security policy, writer for the Inter Press Service

Read Gareth Porter’s work online at www.ipsnews.net.