Remember Afghanistan?

Taliban Kill Afghan Interpreters Working for U.S. and Its Allies
By RUHULLAH KHAPALWAK and CARLOTTA GALL

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 3 — Troops of the American-led coalition in this country are taking a hard look at their security procedures after the deaths of at least 10 Afghans working as interpreters for the coalition in the last month, a military spokesman said Monday.

Some were killed while accompanying foreign troops during combat, but others seem to have been singled out by Taliban insurgents for working for the coalition, other interpreters said.

Most of them are young Afghans who have taken English language courses in Afghanistan.

Taliban-led violence has increased significantly in the last six months, with insurgents making a determined show of force as NATO prepares to take over military command of southern Afghanistan from the United States later this month.

Many civilians have been caught in the violence, including more than 100 employees of the United States Agency for International Development in the last three years, according to the departing chief of the agency's mission in Afghanistan, Alonzo Fulgham. Most of those killed were Afghans, he said.

(There is more.)