KABUL, Feb 20 (Reuters) - An American soldier has been killed in fighting in Afghanistan, the U.S. military said on Tuesday, as the Taliban step up attacks at the start of a spring offensive. The soldier was killed on Monday in the eastern province of Kunar, bordering Pakistan, the U.S. military said in a statement. It gave no further details of the incident in a province which is a bastion for the Taliban and their Islamic allies. After several months of a lull in fighting due to the harsh Afghan winter, the Taliban have resumed attacks against government forces and Western troops in the south and east. More than 4,000 people, a quarter of them civilians, were killed in violence in Afghanistan last year, the bloodiest period since a U.S.-led coalition overthrew the Taliban in 2001. The Taliban say they are gearing up for a spring offensive while the coalition and NATO troops are readying for their own offensive in what analysts say will be a crunch year in the war to quell a strengthening insurgency.
