Probe ruffles U.S.-Afghan relations

KABUL, Afghanistan — A bribery probe involving a top adviser to President Hamid Karzai has angered the Afghan leader and threatens to damage U.S. relations with Kabul just three months after a White House visit that seemed to smooth ties at a critical stage in the war.

Instead, tensions have risen over the aide’s arrest by a U.S.-advised team, and the U.S. says it is watching the next anti-corruption steps closely.

In the days that followed, Karzai bluntly criticized U.S. war strategy and ordered private security companies in the nation to disband in four months. He also signed off on the forced retirement of a veteran corruption-fighter amid allegations by the ousted prosecutor and others that cases against high-ranking government officials were being blocked.

Meanwhile, five more American troops were killed in action in Afghanistan on Tuesday, ending the month with a spike in bloodshed that has claimed the lives of 19 U.S. service members in only four days.

The U.S. death toll for August stood at 55 — three-quarters of them in the second half of the month as the Taliban fight back against U.S. pressure in southern and eastern strongholds. American losses accounted for more than 70 percent of the 76 fatalities suffered by the entire NATO-led force.

NATO said four of the Americans were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, while a fifth died in a gunfight with insurgents in the country’s south. No other details were released.

Until the late month spike, it appeared that the death toll for August would be well below the back-to-back monthly records of 66 in July and 60 in June.

By the middle of August only 13 Americans had been killed — in part because of greater use of heavily armored vehicles and other defenses against roadside bombs, the Taliban weapon of choice.

The reason behind the sudden spike in deaths was unclear because few details about the casualties are released for security reasons.

Most of the U.S. deaths occurred in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, longtime Taliban strongholds that are the focus of the American-led operation against the insurgents.

U.S. officials have been pressing Karzai to step up efforts to root out corruption, and he has pledged to do that. At the same time, he has pushed back, saying the international community needs to do more to eliminate corruption in its own procedures involving contractors and eliminate terrorist havens outside Afghanistan’s borders.