WASHINGTON -- In a grim marker of the human cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Pentagon reported Monday that active-duty American troops were hospitalized in the United States at three times the peacetime rate -- with mental health injuries comprising the largest category.

*

The mental health injuries "directly reflect the nature, durations and intensities of the combat in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the psychological stresses associated with prolonged and often repeated combat deployments," the report said.

*

The report on the war wounded comes as the Pentagon acknowledged Monday that the Afghan war is far from over.