Biden: Expect More Casualties In Afghanistan

US VP Joe Biden Says The West Should Expect More Casualties In Afghanistan

(AP) The United States, Britain and other NATO allies can expect to make more sacrifices and take new casualties as the war in Afghanistan escalates, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview broadcast Thursday.




But Biden said the effort to secure the country ahead of Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election was worth it. He said much of the terrorism threatening the West had its roots in Afghanistan's porous border with Pakistan and that the area produced much of the world's heroin.




"It is a place that, if it doesn't get straightened out, will continue to wreak havoc on Europe and the United States," Biden told BBC radio's "Today" program from the Georgian capital of Tblisi.




Biden said the additional U.S. troops being poured into the country were engaging the Taliban rebels on new fronts, meaning "there is likely to be additional casualties."




Addressing a public that has been unsettled by spike in fatalities, Biden told Britons that their fight was a necessary one.




"In terms of national interest of Great Britain, the U.S. and Europe, (the war in Afghanistan) is worth the effort we are making and the sacrifice that is being felt," he said, before warning that "more will come."




Nineteen British soldiers have died in Afghanistan in July _ the deadliest month of the war for both U.S. and NATO forces _ as British forces have gone on the offensive in the southern Helmand province. The deaths have raised questions about Britain's role in Afghanistan and doubts over whether the U.K. military has the proper equipment for the offensive.




One outgoing British minister broke ranks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown Wednesday by insisting that forces in Afghanistan did not have enough helicopters _ a claim Brown denied.




Biden refused to step into the debate, saying only that he assumed British soldiers had all they needed.




In comments carried on the BBC's Web site, Biden said the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba would close before the end of the year as planned. Six months after President Barack Obama signed the order to close the facility, fewer than 20 of about 245 inmates have been moved from the prison.




Biden said the administration was still going through detainees' records.




"We expect before January _ well before January _ we will have a decision on each and every individual being held," he said.