A U.S. soldier takes his position near a building attacked by the Taliban south of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal says the American death toll in Afghanistan will remain high for some time.

Ivan Watson
CNN

It has been nearly eight years since U.S. forces overthrew the Taliban leaders of Afghanistan, but the war against the Taliban insurgency is bloodier than ever.

The number of Afghan civilians killed in the wake of the war has increased 24 percent in the first six months of this year compared with the same time period last year, according to the United Nations. And NATO and American forces suffered record losses this summer, with 75 troops killed in the month of July, making it the deadliest month for Western troops in the country since American warplanes first began bombing the Taliban in October 2001.

The U.S. death toll will remain high for some time as the Taliban has gained the upper hand, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Monday.

"It's a very aggressive enemy right now," McChrystal told the newspaper in the interview Saturday at his office in Kabul, Afghanistan. "We've got to stop their momentum, stop their initiative. It's hard work."

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Al Qaeda recruits say they received training in how to handling rockets, explosives and bombs.

Ivan Watson
CNN

Civilian casualties resulting from Afghanistan's bloody war have spiked, jumping some 24 percent above figures from last year, the United Nations reported Friday. The Human Rights Unit of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan announced it recorded 1,013 civilian deaths in Afghanistan during the first six months of this year. That compares to 818 Afghan civilians who were killed during the same period in 2008, while 684 civilians were killed during the first half of 2007.

Insurgent roadside bombs and suicide attacks, as well as airstrikes conducted by U.S. and NATO forces, are the two deadliest tactics being used in Afghanistan. Fifty-nine percent of this year's civilian casualties resulted from insurgent bombs. Western military airstrikes killed 30.5 percent of the civilians.

The report concluded that Taliban insurgents are "basing themselves in civilian areas so as to deliberately blur the distinction between combatants and civilians, and as part of what appears to be an active policy aimed at drawing a military response to areas where there is a high likelihood that civilians will be killed."

The UN highlighted a pattern of deadly Taliban attacks, targeting humanitarian workers, government employees, medical and educational staff… and in particular, girls' schools.

Meanwhile, the UN noted that NATO forces have redrafted their tactical directives, in an effort to reduce civilian casualties. Despite the creation last year of a military commission to track civilian deaths, Western airstrikes "remain responsible for the largest percentage of civilian deaths" attributed to foreign troops in Afghanistan.

The UN stated that these civilian casualties are counterproductive for the Western military coalition, because they are "undermining support for the continued presence of the international military forces and the international community generally."

The United States has nearly doubled the number of American forces in Afghanistan since last year. US-NATO troops have mounted on of the biggest military operations of the eight year war, in an effort to route Taliban insurgents from safe havens in Southern Afghanistan, ahead of August 20th presidential elections.

The intensified military activities have contributed to making June the deadliest month for Western forces for the war. At least 44 American service members died in the conflict zone this month, in addition to some 29 Coalition forces.

The Pakistani military gives journalists a tour of the battlefront in Swat Valley and what the Pakistani military says is a Taliban training camp and bunker. CNN's Ivan Watson reports.

Program Note: Tune in tonight to hear more on the situation in Pakistan on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

CNN's Ivan Watson reports on the first pictures from the battles between Pakistan's army and the Taliban.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan has courted local and international media in jovial telephone conversations.

Ivan Watson
CNN

A Taliban spokesman issued a series of threats and ultimatums against Pakistani officials Wednesday as the country's military continued its offensive against the militant group in the Swat Valley.

Speaking on the telephone with CNN, Muslim Khan announced that all national and provincial parliament members from the Malakand Division, the northwestern region where the Swat Valley is located, must resign within three days.

"Otherwise, we will arrest all their families," Khan threatened, "and we will destroy all their buildings."

The Taliban spokesman issued a separate directive aimed at prompting a public show of support for the militants from Pakistan's Islamist political parties. "All these parties must help the Taliban," Khan said. "They must give a press conference to show the people that we need sharia [Islamic law] in the Malakand Division."

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Program Note: Tune in tonight to hear more about the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

CNN's Ivan Watson follows 24 orphans who escape the war zone by walking for 20 miles.

Moderates, writers, intellectuals and musicians struggle against the Taliban in Pakistan. CNN's Ivan Watson reports.