WASHINGTON: Two American service members were killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the Nato-led Resolute Support mission said in a statement, as the United States seeks to reach a negotiated end to the nearly 18-year-old war.
It gave no further details and withheld the names of the service members until next of kin were informed.
The incident brings the number of US troops killed in Afghanistan to at least 14 in 2019.
About 14,000 US troops are stationed in Afghanistan as part of the US-led Nato mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces and to carry out counter-terrorism operations.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the US military role in Afghanistan has basically turned into a “ridiculous” police force in a sign that he is open to a US troop drawdown there after 18 years of war.
Trump, inheriting a war begun by then-president George W Bush in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, expressed a willingness to remove some of the US troops there but said some are needed to make sure the United States has intelligence assets on the ground.
Trump was briefed on Friday by top national security aides on a peace plan being negotiated by US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad with leaders of the Afghanistan government and the Taliban.
A pullout has raised fears within the US military and among some lawmakers that Afghanistan could plunge into a new civil war that could see a return of Taliban rule and give Al Qaeda and other militants a sanctuary in which to expand and plot new attacks on US and allied targets. — Reuters
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