A U.S. service member was killed in combat in Afghanistan on Monday.
A NATO Resolute Support Mission press release said only, “A U.S. service member was killed in action today in Afghanistan.”
“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,” the release stated.
The Army Times, citing an anonymous defense official, said the service member is a Green Beret.
It is the 17th death of a U.S. service member in Afghanistan combat this year, The Associated Press reported.
It is the deadliest year of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel since it began in 2014.
It is also the first U.S. service member killed in Afghanistan since President Trump canceled peace talks with the Taliban more than a week ago, and declared peace talks were “dead.”
The Taliban threatened to hit U.S. targets, vowing that “Americans will suffer.” Days later, Trump made a vow of his own when he said the U.S. will hit the Taliban “harder than ever.”
On Aug. 21, two Green Berets were killed by small arms fire in Faryab Province, Afghanistan.
The two Green Berets, Luis F. DeLeon-Figueroa, 31, of Chicopee, Mass., and Jose J. Gonzalez, 35, of La Puente, Calif., were identified and posthumously promoted to Master Sergent, according to a Pentagon press release.
Three weeks earlier, 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 recently 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.
