Taliban claim downing another US copter, killing 30 troops

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed in a text message that the Islamist group had shot down the second helicopter, another Chinook, in the Zurmat district of Paktia, killing 33 American soldiers.The spike in casualties -- at least 383 foreign troops have been killed so far this year, almost 50 of them in the first week of August -- comes at a time of growing unease about the increasingly unpopular and costly war.U.S. and NATO officials issued statements vowing to stay the course in Afghanistan after Fridays helicopter crash but the devastating death toll will likely raise more questionsabout how much longer foreign troops should stay.Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke with U.S. President Barack Obama by telephone overnight and shared condolences over the Wardak crash, Karzais palace said in a statement.The deaths came barely two weeks after foreign troops began the first phase of a gradual process to hand security responsibility over to Afghan soldiers and police.That process is due to end with the last foreign combat troops leaving at the end of 2014, but some U.S. lawmakers are already questioning whether that timetable is fast enough.Karzai has already said enemies of Afghanistan – the Taliban and other insurgents -- want to disrupt the process.