A NATO soldier has been killed in an IED (improvised explosive device) attack in the south of Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Thursday.
ISA, however, did not identify the deceased soldier or reveal his nationality in accordance with its policy of leaving casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities.
The soldier's death marked the second ISAF casualty in the war-torn South Asian country this year, following the death of one of its contracted civilian employees in a non-combat incident in the country's south on January 1.
Incidentally, ISAF death toll in Afghanistan in 2012 was the lowest recorded in the past four years. The downward trend continued for the second successive year since 2010 when the military alliance suffered the worst losses of lives in its more than a decade old war.
According to ICasualties.org, an independent website that monitors international troop casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, 405 ISAF personnel were killed last year. The figures were worse in the previous years, with 521 deaths in 2009, 711 in 2010, and 566 in 2011.
U.S. soldiers, constituting a major chunk of the foreign force, were the worst-hit in 2012, with 310 deaths. The military mission in Afghanistan has so far cost NATO and its allies the lives of 3,252 soldiers, out of which 2,174 were Americans.
IEDs continue to be the biggest threat to foreign forces in Afghanistan. Of late, roadside bombings using IEDs have become a hallmark of Taliban strategy against NATO forces, as it avoids direct confrontation with the foreign troops while increasing casualties.
Another major issue facing the NATO-led coalition troops is the killing of its personnel by Afghan soldiers themselves and by Afghan civilians and militants dressed in police as well as military uniforms. Out of the total casualties in 2012, up to 58 coalition soldiers were killed in such attacks dubbed by the media as "green-on-blue" attacks.
Notably, most of the recent ISAF casualties have been in southern Afghanistan, where the foreign coalition force is trying to retain control over territories captured from Taliban militants over the past two years.
Currently, there are over 104,900 foreign troops from more than 48 countries in Afghanistan to contain a resurgent Taliban. The U.S. remains the single biggest contributor to the ISAF, with 68,000 soldiers on the ground.
The U.S. and other allied nations involved in the Afghan mission are currently making serious efforts to get the Afghan security forces ready and capable of handling the country's security before the planned withdrawal of coalition troops by the end of 2014.
ISAF has already begun the process of entrusting security responsibilities of several provinces to Afghan forces. However, there are wide concerns about the ability of Afghan security forces to counter Taliban insurgency without the same level of foreign military assistance and presence.
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