U.S. Servicemember Killed, Another Wounded in Afghanistan ‘Insider Attack’

PUL-E ALAM, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 29: 1LT Eric Cannon (R) from Dothan, Alabama, SPC Brian Da
SCOTT OLSON / GETTY IMAGES ASIAPAC / Getty Images/AFP

A U.S. servicemember was killed and another wounded on Monday “during an apparent insider attack in eastern Afghanistan,” according to a press release from NATO’s Resolute Support.

NATO published the following statement:

KABUL, Afghanistan – One U.S. service member was killed and another wounded during an apparent insider attack in eastern Afghanistan, Sept. 3.

“The sacrifice of our service member, who volunteered for a mission to Afghanistan to protect his country, is a tragic loss for all who knew and all who will now never know him,” said Resolute Support and U.S. Forces – Afghanistan Commanding General Scott Miller. “Our duty now is to honor him, care for his family and continue our mission.”

The wounded service member is in stable condition.

The name of our fallen service member will be released 24 hours after next of kin notification.

Additional information will be released as appropriate.

The New York Times previously described an “insider attack” in an article in July:

It also offered a reminder that insider attacks, also known as green-on-blue attacks, have been a recurring problem in Afghanistan, carried out by Afghan security forces loyal to the Taliban or harboring grievances against American troops. About 150 troops from the American-led coalition have been killed in such attacks during the nearly 17-year-old war, according to data from the United States military, with the number of the attacks peaking in 2012.

This is the sixth American killed in 2018, according to Fox News’s Lucas Tomlinson.

Three NATO troops, all from the Czech Republic, were killed in August in eastern Afghanistan in a suicide bombing for which the Taliban claimed responsibility.

The U.S. currently has about 15,000 military servicepersons in Afghanistan – 8,500 troops supporting the NATO-led Resolute Support mission to train and advise Afghan forces and about 6,000 more as part of a counterterrorism mission.

Of NATO’s 29 member states, only nine, including the U.S., pledged more than half of one percent of their total active duty military for the Afghanistan mission, according to a recent report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Despite previous calls for withdrawing from Afghanistan across recent years, President Donald Trump has subsequently called for a troop expansion in the South Asian state.

In a 2017 article entitled “What Is the Goal in Afghanistan? Washington Does Not Know,” Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Joel Pollak described “three good strategic reasons for the United States to be involved in Afghanistan” while framing Washington’s articulation of a broader strategic objective in the country as unclear.

Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter.

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