The US Defense Secretary James Mattis said Monday that the US military is adjusting tactics in Afghanistan as the Taliban continue to inflict heavy casualties on local forces.

“So far, they have taken hard casualties over the last year,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon as quoted in a report by AFP.

“But they have continued to fight, and we are adjusting tactics. We're bringing more support in certain areas,” he said, declining to go into further detail.

513 Soldiers Killed Last Month

Addressing a Senate session this week, the Afghan Defense Minister Gen. Tariq Shah Bahrami acknowledged the casualty toll problem among Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers and said in the past month 513 soldiers were killed.

Bahrami said this had been one of the worst months in terms of deaths among security forces. He also said at least 718 were wounded and 43 were captured by insurgents.

He however emphasized that the death toll among insurgents was three to four times higher. 

“Unfortunately, in the last one month 513 ANA soldiers were killed, 718 wounded and 43 captured; it was the highest number of fatalities we have had in a single month.

Compared to the fatalities among our security forces, the enemy suffered three to four times more than us,” said Bahrami.