Two U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan, U.S. confirmed Wednesday.
A NATO Resolute Support Mission press release said only that the deaths occurred Wednesday in Afghanistan, and noted “In accordance with U.S. Department of Defense policy, the names of the service members killed in action are being withheld until 24 hours after notification of next of kin is complete.”
A cause of death or province that the incident occurred is not yet known.
Two US service members were killed today in #Afghanistan, announces @ResoluteSupport. pic.twitter.com/0G0pssFW0m
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) August 21, 2019
More than a dozen U.S. troops have been killed in combat in Afghanistan so far this year, ABC News noted.
It is the deadliest year of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel since it began in 2014.
The deaths come just three weeks after two U.S. paratroopers were killed in Afghanistan’s Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan Province.
The troops’ identities were revealed as Pfc. Brandon Jay Kreischer, 20, of Stryker, Ohio, and Spc. Michael Isaiah Nance, 24, of Chicago, Ill., according to a Department of Defense statement released on July 30.
Kreischer and Nance were reportedly slain by an Afghan soldier and the incident is under investigation.
President Trump reiterated on Tuesday his previous sentiment that the war in Afghanistan has gone on “long enough” and the U.S. is trying to strike a peace deal that would involve a withdrawal of some U.S. troops, Military.com reported.
“We’ve been a peacekeeper there, in a way, for 19 years and, at a certain point, you have to say that’s long enough,” Trump said, adding that the U.S. will recall “some of our troops back, but we have to have a presence.”
Acting Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said Tuesday that the Army has “not received any direct orders to do anything,” according to Military.com.
